LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OK 


Received 

Accession  No. 


/ 

,    Class  No. 


(jold  or 


44  One  of  the  best  publications  on  the  great 
question  of  the  day.     *     *    Surely  destined  to 

do    much    gOOd."  New  York  Evening  Post. 

Deserves  a  large  circulation. " 

New   York  Commercial 


F.  TENNYSON   NEELY,  Publisher 

114  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


ALL   DRUGGISTS   SELL 
IT. 


HAM  LIN'S 

WIZARD 

OIL 

CURES  ALL  ACHES, 

PAINS,  SORENESS,  SWELLING  AND 

INFLAMMATION 

FROM  ANY  CAUSE. 
Pntcc  5O  CENTS  AND  $1.00  PER  BOTTLE. 


HAMLIN'S 
BLOOD  AND 
LIVER  PILLS 

FOR  HEADACHE, 
INDIGESTION, 
CONSTIPATION. 
ETC. 


25  CENTS 
PER  BOTTLE. 


MAN'F'D 
ONLY 

BY 

HAMLINS 

WIZARD 

OIL 

CO., 

CHICAGO. 


HAMLIN'S 

COUGH 

BALSAM 

BEST 

REMEDY  FOR 
COUGHS  AND 
HOARSENESS. 

5O  CENTS 

PER   BOTTLE. 


MELY'S  POLITICAL  PUBLICATIONS. 


(rOIJ)     Oil     SlLVFJR  ?    B7   M-  A    MILLER.     With  Pen  Pictures  of  the 
UVLfl/      711    JlL/Vlwli;      Tfmes     Facts,  Figures,  and  Experience-all  in 
a  tone  that  says:  "Come,  let  us  reason  together"     Extracts  from  the 
speeches  of  ex-Secretary  Sherman  and  Secretary  J.  G.  Carlisle. 

Cloth,  $1.OO  ;  paper,  25c. 

SOUND     MONRY       The  Salvation  of  Our  National  Honor.    Conclusive 
UVUiW     lUUnm*      Arguments  by  William  C  Whitney,  John  G.  Carlisle, 

William  F.  Vilas,  Arthur  P.  Gorman,  David  B.  Hill,  William   McKinley. 

John  Sherman,  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  Charles  A    Dana, 

Henry  Watterson  and  others,    A  Symposium  of  the  Greatest  Statesmen  and 

Philosophers  of  the  Age  on  the  Money  Question. 

Cloth,  $1.00;  paper,  25c. 

FREE      SILVER        The    Democratic    Campaign    Hand-Book.       All    the 
1  111WU      UlLrf  f  HIM      Arguments  at  a  Glance.     By  C.  M  STEVANS,  Author 

of  **  Bryan  and  Sewall        No  Crown  of  Thorns,  No  Cross  of  Gold. — Bryan. 

Be  Prepared  to  Meet  the  Assertions  of  the  Bondholders. 

Cloth,  91. OO ;  paper,  25c. 


McKINLEY  AND  HOBART. 

ANDREWS,  Author  of  the  u  Lifi 
pages,  profusely  illustrated. 

BRYAN  AND  SEWALL 


ANDREWS,  Author  of  the  "Life  of  John  A.  Logan,"  etc.,  etc.    About  400 
pages,  profusely  illustrated.  Cloth,  81.OO  ;  paper,  25 c. 


And    THE    GREAT    ISSUE    OF    1896. 
By  C.  M.  STEVANS.    Speeches,  Portraits, 


of  the  American  people  to  restore  their  country  to  the  prosperity  of  former 
times.    Fully  Illustrated.  Cloth,  $1.UO  ;  paper,  25c. 

Neely's  New  Reversible  Political  Chart, 


States  Map  combined.  Better  than  an  Encyclopedia.  Printed  in  n  Beauti- 
ful Colors.  The  only  Census  Map  published.  A  Double  Wall  Map.  5  feet  6 
inches  by  3  feet  10  inches,  mounted  on  Rollers,  top  and  bo 
hang.  A  Complete  History  of  Our  Government  by  Adminis 
ical  Parties  and  Congresses,  from  Washington  to  Cleveland. 

Full  Mounted,  $1.OO 


.  .  . 

by  3  feet  10  inches,  mounted  on  Rollers,  top  and  bottom,  ready  to 
hang.    A  Complete  History  of  Our  Government  by  Administrations,  Polit- 
rties and  Congresses,  from  Washington  to  Cleveland. 

Full  Mounted,  $1.OO 

For  Sale  Everywhere,  or  sent,   Postpaid,  on  Receipt  of  Price. 


F.    TENNYSON    NEELY, 

114  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


THE  ALL-ABSORBING  CHASE. 

When  we  get  to  chasing  these  dollars  (gold  or  silver},  we  are  too  apt 
to  forget  everything  else.     Forget  the  old  flag,  our  duties  to 
ether s^  and  the  important  questions  of  the  day. 


GOLD  OR  SILVER  ? 


"The  Nation  at  and*  to-day  impeded  by  Its 
unsolved  problems.'*— David  Swing. 


A  Discussion  of  Both  Sides  of  the  Question 
Why  the  Times  Are  Hard 

Deals  With  Free  Coinage  of  Silver,  Giving  Facts  and  Figures 
Leaves  the  Reader  to  Decide  How  to  Vote 


A  POLITICAL  ECONOMY 

MONOMETALLISM,  BIMETALLISM,  ETC.,  DEFINED   AND  EX- 

PLAINED       STATISTICS    FROM    WHICH    TO 

JUDGE  CAUSES  AND   EFFECTS 


"What  man  would  be  wise,  let  him  drink  of  the  river, 

That  bears  on  its  bosom,  the  records  of  time, 
A  message  to  him  every  wave  can  deliver, 

To  teach  him  to  creep  till  he  knows  how  to  climb.' 


BY  MARCUS  A.  MILLER 


WITH  PEN  PICTURES   OF    THE    TIMES 


It  is  not  a  good  measure  of  length  that  grows  shorter 
It  is  not  a  good  measure  of  weight  that  grows  lighter 
It  is  not  a  good  u?~asure  of  value  that  grows  cheaper 


F.  TENNYSON  NEELY 

PUBLISHER 

114  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 
1896 


COPYRIGHT  1896 

BY 

F.  TENNYSON  NEELY. 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  INQUIRING 
MIND. 

"It  is  the  perfection  of  civilization  to  differ 
in  thought,  but  to  be  one  in  friendship." 


r*  v-v*  ,x 

"WE  NEED  PATRIOTISM  IN    TIMES    OF    PEACE." 


A  duty  incumbent  on  us  all  is  to  study  our 
institutions  and  help  solve  the  problem  of  the 
day. 


NEELY'S  LATEST  BOOKS. 

Captain  Charles  King,  U.  S.  A. 

TRUMPETER  P  RED.  A  startling  story  of  the 
plains.  Full  page  illustrations.  Buok- 
ram,  75  cents. 

AN  ARMY  WIFE.  Suspicion  and  intrigue  at 
headquarters.  i2mo.  Price  $1.25. 

FORT  FRAYNE.     yth  edition.    i2mo.    $1.25. 
Jlfax  Nor  dan. 

How  WoMhN  LOVE.  Study  and  story  bril- 
liant and  energetic.  i2mo.  $1.25. 

THE  RIGHT  TO  LOVE.     i2mo.     $1.50, 

THE  COMS-DV  OF  SENTIMENT.    i2mo.    $r  50, 

THE  AILMENT  OF  THE    CENTURY.      i"  nrv 

$1.50. 
Robert  W.  Chambers. 

THE  KING  IN  YELLOW.     Neely's  Prismatic 

Library.     75  cents. 
John  W.  Harding. 

AN  ART   FAILURE.     A  story  of  the  Latin 

§uarter  as  it  is.     Profusely  illustrated, 
eely's  Prismatic  Library.     75  cents. 
Hobert  Buchanan  and  Henry  Murray* 

THE  CHARLATAN.     i2mo.     $1.25. 
Anthony  Hope. 

FATHER    STAFFORD.      The    author's    best 
story.  Neely's  Prismatic  Library.  Buck- 
ram, 75  cents. 
Ethan  Allen's 

WASHINGTON,   OR  THE  REVOLUTION.     In 

two  parts.     Each  part,  cloth,  $1.50. 
THE  BACHELOR  AND  THE  CHAFING  DISH.     2nd 

Edhion.     $1.00. 
CHEIRO'S  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  HAND.     5th  Edition. 

$2.50. 
IF  WE  ONLY  KNEW  and  other  poems  by  Cheiro.. 

50  cents. 
J?aul  Bourget. 

THE  DisckPLE.     i2mo.    $1.25. 
THE  J^AND  OF  PROMISE.     16  page  illustt^ 
tions.     i2mo.    $1.50. 

F.  Tenneyson  Neely. 

ork,  Chicago, 

U4  Fifth  Avenue.  354  Franfcliii  Street. 


"  Money  came  along1  and  attempted  to  buy  the  canvases 
of  Angelo,  but  it  did  not  paint  them." 


FOUNDATION  PRINCIPLES. 

Labor  and  raw  materials  are  the  only  true 
measures  of  value,  fluctuating  with  supply 
and  demand. 

Realties,  improvements,  and  commodities  are 
the  wealth  of  the  country,  and  are  exchanged 
one  for  the  other. 

Money  is  simply  a  medium  of  exchange,  a 
convenient  measure  of  value.  Primary  money, 
redemption  money  rates  values,  and  must  be 
intrinsically  valuable  as  a  commodity,  and  this 
value  depends  upon  labor,  supply  and  demand. 

There  is  never  any  demand  for  primary 
money  in  the  country  of  issue,  except  there  be 
a  lack  of  confidence  caused  by  poor  legislation, 
or  apparent  sentiment  towards  legislative 
blunders. 


At  the  bottom  of  every  citizen's 
conscience,  the  most  obscure  as  well  as 
the  greatest,  at  the  very  depths  of  the 
soul,  there  is  a  sentiment — sacred,  sub- 
lime, insurmountable  and  eternal— the 
SENTIMENT  of  RIGHT.  This  is 
the  hidden,  irresistible  obstacle,  veiled 
in  the  recesses  of  every  mind,  which 
EVERYTHING  FALSE  MUST  sooner 
or  later  encounter*  It  is  the  rock  on 
which  EVERYTHING  EVIL  must  in- 
evitably be  shipwrecked* — Victor  Hugo* 


CONTENTS. 


PAQH 

PREFACE, 9 

INTRODUCTION, 11 

I.    WHY  TIMES  ARE  HARD,      .        .  15 

II.    POLITICAL  ECONOMY,       .        .  31 

III.  SOME  QUESTIONS,  ANSWERS  AND 

DEFINITIONS,         ...         41 

IV.  WHY  SOME  THEORIES  ARE  WRONG,    50 
V.    WHY  SOME  PRICES  ARE  LOWER,    55 

VI.     k( BOOMED"  VALUES,    ...     63 
VII.    A  COMMON  ERROR,          .        .         68 
VIII.    EXPERIENCE  THE  BEST  TEACHER,    77 
IX.    WILLIAM    KIEFT'S    EXPERIMENT 

WITH  FREE  COINAGE,       .       .    85 
X.    YUNG  LEE  AND  FREE  COINAGE,      94 
XI.    PRIMARY   MONEY  PURELY  MER- 
CHANDISE,    ....       105 
XII.    THE  RESULTS  OF  FREE  COINAGE,  110 


PAGE 

XIII.  BECAUSE,          .        .        .       .118 

XIV.  A  GLANCE  BACKWARD,        .        .123 
XV.    WHERE  ARE  SOME  OF  OUR  GREAT 

LEADERS? 127 

XVI.    PUBLIC   CONFIDENCE   NECESSARY 

TO  GOOD  TIMES,        .        .        .  130 
XVII.    ALL  MEN  CREATED  EQUAL,    .       135 

XVIII.    OUR  COUNTRY, 141 

XIX.    SOME  "ROUND  NUMBERS,"      .       145 
XX.    Primary  Money  Systems  of 

the  World  Described,       .     155 
APPENDIX.     SPEECH  OF  SECRETARY  OF  THE 
U.  S.  TREASURY,  MAY  20,  1895, 
ON  THE  CURRENCY  QUESTION,     167 


PREFACE. 

The  best  way  to  reach  a  man's  heart  is 
through  his  pocketbook.  This  is  what  inter- 
ests me  just  now,  and  is  my  excuse  for  writing 
this  book.  I  want  what  few  dollars  I  have, 
whether  gold  or  silver,  to  be  just  as  good 
dollars  as  the  Rothschilds'. 

I  do  not  expect  to  please  everybody,  but 
hope  this  little  volume  will  find  readers  who 
will  correct  its  errors  or  profit  by  its  truths. 

"I  do  not  pretend  to  tell  just  how  things 
ought  to  be,  but  how  I  think  they  ought  to 

be." 

M.   A.   M. 

BlNGHAMTON,   N.  Y., 

June  20th,  1896. 


THANKS : 

I  desire  to  extend  thanks  to  the  authors  of  the  many  valuable 
productions  already  written  upon  the  subject  of  finance,  from  whom 
I  have  received  much  help  in  preparing  the  following  pages— especially 
is  credit  due  the  Forum. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Confidence  and  credit  are  the 
factors  of  American  prosperity  and 
progress.  With  confidence  the  spin- 
dles hum,  the  furnace  is  in  blast,  the 
miner  is  at  work,  the  farmer  happy, 
labor  has  full  employment,  capital  is 
active,  and  the  wheels  of  the  freight 
car  are  perpetually  revolving.  With 
confidence  a  business  of  incalculable 
magnitude  can  get  along  with  scarce- 
ly any  currency.  Without  confidence 
there  is  not  money  enough  in  the 
world  to  conduct  the  business  of  the 
United  States  I— Chauncey  Fl.  Depew. 


W  TOT 

g'UYlKSITY] 

,'>  .     '    oar 


INTRODUCTION. 


these  hard  times?"is  "the 

tion  of  the  hour."  This  book  attempts 
the  answer.  We  have  experienced  a  finan- 
cial depression  during  the  past  few  years. 
We  have  experienced  this  in  a  "land  of 
plenty  " — something  is  wrong.  The  poor  have 
been  the  greatest  sufferers  ;  the  depression, 
however,  has  affected  the  rich  and  the  poor. 

In  such  times  someone  is  always  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  the  circumstances.  "It's 
an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  any  good."  The 
free  silver  people  grasp  at  this  opportunity  and 
attempt  to  show  that  the  evils  have  all  been 
caused  by  an  act  of  Congress  in  1873  which 
demonetized  silver,  and  that  all  the  ills  can  be 
corrected  by  allowing  them  to  sett  their  silver 
to  the  United  States  mint. 

Free  coinage  has  many  able  and  honest  ad- 
vocates, but  perhaps  some  of  its  leaders  are 
actuated  by  selfish  motives,  they  may  even  be 


12  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

producers  of  the  "  white  metal."  Those  suf- 
fering the  most  from  hard  times  are  the  first 
to  follow  any  movement  that  promises  relief  ; 
like  a  drowning  man,  they  are  ready  to  "  grasp 
at  a  straw,"  anything  that  will  apparently  help 
them. 

One  class  would  be  temporarily  benefited  by 
free  silver,  the  other — the  much  larger  class- 
would  be  permanently  injured. 

Every  true  American  wants  to  do  just  right, 
wants  to  know  the  real  causes  and  how  to  cor- 
rect them.  He  is  studying  to-day  as  he  never 
did  before. 

"Our  nation  was  founded  upon  personal  ca- 
pability and  ideas.  It  does  not  need  the  old 
words  '  Republican,'  'Democrat'  or  'Whig.' 
It  needs  great  men  and  great  truths." 

We  must  admit  that  there  has  been  and  in  i 
business  depression,  we  must  admit  that  the 
times  are  hard  ;  knowing  this,  it  would  be  folly 
to  condemn  the  causes  assigned  by  one 
"  school,"  without  attempting  to  show  the  real 
factors  of  the  trouble,  and  the  errors  of  the 
economists  of  the  other  side,  therefore  it  will 
be  the  aim  of  this  little  book  to  discuss  the  dif- 
ferent questions  affecting  the  hour,  and  to  place 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  13 

before  its  readers  some  of  the  true  causes  as 
they  appear  to  the  observer. 

Above  all  we  would  advise  caution.  The 
evils  must  be  corrected  by  the  ballot, — it  is  the 
duty  of  every  one  to  study,  to  investigate,  and 
not  to  be  led  away  by  sophistry,  demagogism, 
politicians  and  interested  people,  but  to  be 
prepared  to  vote  intelligently. 

The  American  people  are  equal  to  the  situa- 
tion. "  Of  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  they 
are  the  most  practical  and  least  theoretical." 
When  the  time  comes  for  the  filial  settlement 
I  have  great  confidence  in  the  justice  of  their 
decision. 

"  A  nation,  like  an  individual,  has  its  hours 
of  ill  health,  days  when  the  heart  fears  that  it 
may  be  on  the  border  of  death.  But  as  only 
centuries  can  make  a  great  nation  live,  so  noth- 
ing but  long  illness  can  make  it  die.53 


Which  Effect  Would  It  Have  ? 


If  free  coinage  of  Silver  at  the  ratio  of  J6  to 
J  will  GIVE  EVERYBODY  MORE  GOOD 
money  and  raise  the  value  of  the  silver  in 
the  silver  dollar,  so  it  will  be  worth  as  much 
as  a  Gold  dollar  and  MAINTAIN  this  value, 

THEN  EVERYBODY   SHOULD  BE 
IN    FAVOR  OF  FREE  COINAGE. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  it  will  not  give  EVERY- 
BODY MORE  GOOD  money,  but  will  reduce 
[   the  value  of  the  dollar,  the  same  as  it  has 
done  in  Mexico  and   all   other   free-coinage 
countries,  to  the  value  of   the  silver   in  the 
Silver  Dollar,  making  the  word  dollar  mean 
another  thing,  "  a  short  dollar,"  and  thus  re- 
-    duce  the  value  of  all  Life  Insurance  policies, 
;   the  value  of  all  Pension  claims,  and  reduce  all 
Savings  Bank  deposits,  etc*,  about  one-half, 

THEN  EVERYBODY  SHOULD  BE 
AGAINST  FREE  COINAGE* 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHY  TIMES  ARE  HARD.      ' 

OUR  caption  promises  at  least  a  theory  for 
the  fact ;  the  reader  is  to  be  the  judge  of 
its  correctness.  No  one  cause  is  responsible  for 
it  all ;  but  by  far  the  greatest  element  in  the 
trouble  to-day  is  the  uncertainty  of  the  future 
standard  of  value  for  our  money  unit. 

If  you  were  manufacturing  goods  that  sold 
by  the  yard  and  there  was  some  discussion 
about  the  future  length  of  the  yardstick, 
assuming  that  you  would  have  to  sell  the  new 
yard  at  the  same  price,  would  you  not  stop 
until  you  found  out  how  long  it  was  going  to 
be  ?  This  is  just  what  our  people  are  doing. 
The  length  of  the  yardstick  is  established,  as 
is  also  the  number  of  units  in  the  dozen,  etc., 
but  they  don't  know  how  "long"  our  future 
dollar  is  to  be. 

There    are    many    other    elements    directly 
affecting    the  times,  the  most   important  of 


16  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

which  it  is  our  purpose  to  discuss  especially 
in  this  chapter. 

If  you  think  a  mistake  was  made  in  1873  by 
the  United  States,  and  about  that  time  by  the 
whole  civilized  world,  don't  be  hasty  now, 
weigh  the  matter  carefully,  consider  all  sides, 
and  be  sure  you  do  not  make  a  worse  mistake 
in  1896.  If  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873 
is  responsible  for  the  troubles  since  1893, 
ought  we  not  to  credit  the  good  times  since 
1873  and  up  to  1893  to  the  same  one  cause  ? 
Let  us  be  fair. 

I  do  not  believe  that  all  our  financial  disas- 
ters and  troubles  are  due  to  this  one  Act ; 
neither  do  I  believe  that  if  it  were  possible  to 
restore  silver  to  the  position  it  held  prior  to 
that  time — even  more,  to  give  it  the  right  of 
free  and  unlimited  coinage,  which,  from  natu- 
ral laws,  it  has  not  enjoyed  since  1834 — that  we 
would  have  corrected  all  evils  and  that  every- 
one would  have  all  the  money  he  wanted,* 


*  The  Tuscaloosa  (Ala.)  Advertiser  says:  "The  free  coin- 
age  of  silver,  as  it  is  understood  by  the  various  classes,  is  a 
curious  thing.  One  of  the  '  natives  *  got  off  this  as  an  argument 
in  its  favor.  '  Yes,  I  am  for  free  coinage  of  silver,  because  it 
will  give  us  a  per  capita  circulation  of  $50,  and  as  there  are 
six  of  us  in  my  family,  this  would  give  me  $300  in  cash  to 
start  on.'"  Now,  this  actually  happened  in  Tuscaloosa. 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  17 

notwithstanding  the  fact  that  some  of  our 
"  financial  schools "  convey  this  idea.  We 
have  all  seen  good  and  prosperous  times  since 
1873. 

All  the  money  or  property  we  have  we  must 
get  by  exercising  some  physical  or  mental 
power — we  must  get  it  "  by  the  sweat  of  our 
brows."  Property  becomes  ours  only  for  a 
consideration.  Industry  is  the  source  of  all 
wealth — confidence  the  promoter  of  conditions 
for  industry.  If  we  have  a  fixed  standard  for 
our  measure  of  value,  does  that  not  impart 
confidence  ? 

Free  coinage  would  rob  the  treasury  of  all 
the  "world's  money"  and  flood  it  with  a 
cheap,  fluctuating  commodity — it  would  give 
producers  of  silver  a  chance  to  sell  their  bull- 
ion, but  would  it  give  the  farmer,  the  me- 
chanic, or  the  merchant  any  more  property  or 
money  ? 

Money  is  not  the  wealth  of  the  country.  The 
wealth  of  the  country  consists  in  commodities, 
products,  merchandise,  land  and  improve- 
ments. 

The  prosperity  of  the  country  depends  on 
judicious  production  and  confidence.  Confi- 


18  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

dence  and  prosperity  always  go  hand  in 
hand. 

Money  is  but  a  convenient  medium  of  ex- 
change, a  measure  by  which  the  worth  of  all 
commodities  is  determined  when  they  are  trans- 
ferred from  one  to  the  other. 

It  is  unjust  to  assume  that  the  rich  desire 
legislation  that  will  destroy  the  prosperity  of 
the  poor,  that  the  higher  classes  desire  to 
destroy  the  prosperity  of  the  middle  classes, 
that  it  is  to  the  banker's  interest  to  destroy  the 
prosperity  of  the  merchant,  the  mechanic,  the 
farmer — all  his  customers.  No,  the  prosperity 
of  one  class  is  enjoyed  by  the  other  ;  the 
adversities  of  the  one  are  suffered  by  the 
other. 

It  is  wrong  to  assume  that  one  nation  will- 
fully plots  to  destroy  or  break  down  the  com- 
mercial prosperity  of  another.  No,  the  world  is 
too  small  to-day,  with  our  rapid  transporta- 
tion and  quick  communication  with  one  an- 
other. 

The  prosperity  of  England  is  shared  by  the 
United  States  and  the  prosperity  of  the  United 
States  is  shared  by  England— the  adversities  of 
either  are  felt  by  both ;  the  mistakes  of  the  one 


CONTROLLING  SPIRITS. 

This  is  where  our  laivs  are  made — an  ordinary  primary '. 
41  Whafs  everybody's    business  is  nobody's  business  "     So  the  u  Ward 
Heeler"  runs  the  elections  and  does  it  so  he  makes  a  good  thing  out  of  it, 
regardless  of  the  public1  s  interests.     The  people  vote  for  the  candidates  he 
nominates  and  wonder  why  they  don't  make  better  laws. 

To  correct  this  evil,  COMPEL  every  American  to  vote  at  the  primaries. 

44  My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 

Sweet  land  of  liberty." 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  19 

are  suffered  as  well  by  the  other.  No  one  felt 
the  Baring  failure  in  1890  more  than  did  the 
limited  States,  and  the  Australian  and  South 
American  troubles  were  also  important  ele- 
ments in  our  depression. 

The  principal  reason  why  the  banker  to-day 
is  apparently  the  most  prosperous  of  all  men 
is  because  he  has  been  dealing  in  money — good 
money,  money  that  has  not  depreciated,  money 
that  has  not  fluctuated,  money  that  everybody 
wants  ;  not  " boomed"  or  "fiat"  money,  but 
the  money  of  the  world,  money  that  has  not 
depreciated  in  value  like  other  commodities. 
And  now  our  free  silver  friends  would  de 
stroy  this  staple  article,  remove  the  source 
of  its  stability,  and  with  a  promise  of  bene- 
fiting the  people  at  large  they  would  "  boom  " 
money,  "put  sand  in  the  sugar"  and  give 
us  a  fluctuating  currency,  money  that  to  day 
would  have  one  value  and  to-morrow  an- 
other— money  that  would  shrink  in  your 
pocket. 

Our  general  business  depression  did  not 
come  from  silver  demonetization  ;  most  of  our 
troubles  are  due  to  the  discussion  of  free  silver, 
bad  legislation  on  the  subject — the  Sjierman 


20  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

law* — and    possible  legislation  making  freer 
silver. 

Neither  is  the  trouble  with  our  crops  or  our 
products  ;  the  seasons  have  come  and  gone  in 
their  regular  order  and  brought  with  them 
foliage  and  flowers,  fruit  and  grain,  cold  and 
warm  weather,  rain  and  snow,  each  in  its 
proper  time  and  in  normal  amounts,  and  dur- 
ing all  this  time  there  has  been  a  constant  cry 
of  "  hard  times,"  hard  times  that  we  have  felt 
ourselves.  The  trouble  has  been  attributed  by 
some  to  one  thing  and  by  some  to  another. 
Many  elements  have  entered  into  it,  but  the 
free  silver  advocates  are  the  only  men  who  are 
perfectly  satisfied  that  they  have  solved  the 
problem  and  discovered  the  one  and  only 
cause.  They  attribute  the  cause  of  hard  times 
to  the  fact  that  we  have  had  good  money, 
money  on  which  there  is  no  discount,  money 
that  they  all  want,  money  that  they  would  like 
to  accept  in  exchange  for  their  silver. 


*  The  Sherman  law  was  not  recommended  by  Senator  Sher- 
man as  a  good  law,  but  as  the  best  one  that  could  be  passed 
at  that  time  on  account  of  the  absolute  free  silver  element  in 
Congress  It  was  a  compromise,  and  has  cost  us  lots  of  gold 
and  trouble  more  particularly  in  the  loss  of  confidence  of 
foreign  countries  in  us.  Do  we  want  " freer"  silver  ? 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  21 

Another  class  of  politicians  would  claim  the 
cause  is  due  wholly  to  the  Wilson  bill*,  and 
while  either  may  have  been  incidental  to  the 
conditions  of  the  times,  the  careful  student  of 
the  situation  will  consider  them  only  factors  in 
the  general  depression  from  which  all  have 
been  suffering. 

Some  so-called  economists  contend  that  one 
country  is  trying  to  rob  or  break  down  the 
other  ;  that  England  wants  to  make  us  pau- 
pers. Such  teachers  are  unreliable.  Men  may 
be  avaricious  and  grasping  —they  are  ;  but  it 
would  be  hard  to  find  a  nation  or  a  class  of 
people  at  this  present  state  of  high  civilization 
who  would  willfully  destroy  the  market  in 
which  they  sold  their  goods,  and  this  is  what 
one  nation  or  one  class  would  do  if  it  willfully 
destroyed  the  prosperity  of  the  other  ;  we  all 
work  for  each  other.  The  time  of  conquest  is 
past,  we  are  not  striving  to-day  to  possess  the 


*  It  is  not  our  desire  to  discuss  the  tariff  question  or 
say  anything  for  or  against  either  of  the  great  parties — 
let  them  take  care  of  themselves.  We  have  heard  tariff 
a  great  many  years,  and  if  "history  repeats  itself"  we 
will  hear  it  again. 


22  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

other  by  superior  physical  force,  but  we  are 
trying  to  sell  to  the  other  our  surplus,  and  to 
purchase  from  the  other  its  luxuries — the  goods 
we  want.  We  are  cultivating  friendly  rela- 
tions, reciprocity,  and  our  measures  of  value 
must  be  uniform.  We  are  a  borrowing  nation 
because  of  our  rapid  development,  and  because 
it  is  profitable  for  us  to  borrow.  We  could  not 
establish  a  unit  of  value  for  other  nations  if  we 
would,  but  our  corn,  our  wheat  and  other  com- 
modities are  worth  full  value  with  them  ac- 
cording to  the  supply  arid  demand,  and  they 
are  willing  to  pay  us  the  e '  world's  money  "  for 
them  ;  their  commodities  are  valuable  to  us 
and  we  must  exchange  the  "  world's  money" 
for  such  as  we  want. 

I  said  that  demonetization  of  silver  was  not 
the  cause  of  our  present  depression,  we  have 
enjoyed  great  prosperity  since  that  occurred, 
since  the  "crime  of  1873."  The  facts  are 
these  :  with  our  apparent  prosperity  we  have 
quite  outdone  ourselves — overreached — lived 
too  fast,  speculated  too  freely,  taken  too  many 
chances,  have  too  often  bet  on  the  wrong 
horse ;  our,  continued  success  made  us  think 
we  could  do  anything.  One  of  the  great  ene- 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  23 

mies  to  our  peace  and  prosperity  comes  from  a 
desire  to  get  rich  in  a  few  days.  In  times  of 
great  success  we  become  reckless,  speculative  ; 
this  is  sure  to  be  followed  by  reaction.  Then, 
if  we  tamper  with  our  money  unit  we  create 
a  distrust  that  sinks  us  deeper.  Let  us  review 
a  little  of  the  past.  A  few  years  ago  we  were 
building  railroads  quite  largely  with  borrowed 
money,  English  money.  Some  of  our  railroad 
kings  manipulated  the  stocks,  watered  them, 
reduced  their  values,  "gobbled"  them  up,  and 
the  people  thus  deceived  have  lost  confidence 
in  us.  It  is  an  error  in  our  corporation  laws 
that  permits  such  things,  and  one  that  should 
be  speedily  corrected.  A  few  years  ago  we 
were  building  cities  and  villages  all  along  these 
railroads  and  "  booming  "  valuations  ;  we  were 
buying  village  lots  to-day  on  ninety  per  cent 
credit  and  selling  them  to-morrow,  and  giving 
ninety-five  per  cent  credit  on  increased  valua- 
tions; this  was  carried  on  indefinitely.  Invest- 
ment companies  sprung  up  all  over  the  coun- 
try to  help  these  things  along  and  loaned 
money,  borrowed  from  the  East,  to  build  busi- 
ness blocks,  houses  and  improvements.  From 
one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  it  became 


24:  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

a  craze  and  in  many  cities  to-day  we  find  these 
empty  monuments  of  our  follies,  which,  if  sold, 
would  not  pay  the  receivers  of  the  now  defunct 
investment  companies  the  faces  of  the  mort- 
gages against  them,  and  thus  the  East  has  lost 
confidence  in  the  West. 

Unemployed  business  blocks  will  not  pay 
interest  on  loans,  untilled  soil  will  not  pay 
interest  on  mortgages.  And  these  same  invest- 
ment, companies  dealt  heavily  in  farm  mort- 
gages. When  the  farmers  became  drunk  with 
the  mad  spirit  of  speculation  which  ran  through 
our  land,  and  left  their  farms  to  engage  in 
booming  cities  and  villages,  the  mortgages  ate 
up  their  homes  and  the  depreciation  in  these 
boomed  values  has  not  left  this  property  capa- 
ble of  paying  the  mortgages  under  a  forced 
sale. 

This  kind  of  business  could  not  last  forever. 
While  it  furnished  almost  unlimited  employ- 
ment during  this  " boomed  "  period,  there  came 
a  time  when  it  ended,  and  "  we  never  miss  the 
water  till  the  well  runs  dry." 

One  of  the  unfortunate  things  is  the  fact 
that  a  large  percentage  of  the  laboring  men 
and  their  so-called  leaders  do  not  see  why  they 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  25 

should  not  be  employed  by  the  same  people  to 
work  when  there  is  no  more  of  this  kind  of 
work  to  be  done,  and  "have  come  to  regard 
their  employment  as  a  sort  of  commodity  in 
the  possession  of  cities,  corporations  and  rich 
men,  which  can  be  furnished  in  unlimited  quan- 
tities ;"  and  to-day,  instead  of  looking  for 
work,  taking  in  the  situation,  they  have  become 
agitators, "  walking  delegates,"— free  silver  ad- 
vocates. 

During  the  process  of  establishing  and  build- 
ing cities  ai^d  villages  municipal  employment 
was  a  great  factor  in  the  temporary  prosperity; 
and  if  the  laborers  had  followed  more  closely 
the  example  of  the  honey-bee  they  would 
be  better  off  to-day.  But  there  were  too 
many  butterflies  among  them.  Labor  should 
be  taught  that  employment  cannot  be  kept  in 
stock  or  made  to  order,  but  that  the  require- 
ments make  the  demand  ;  that  when  public 
improvements  are  not  progressing  and  it  is  no 
longer  profitable  to  employ  labor  in  the  various 
industrial  pursuits  that  the  necessity  for  it 
ceases,  and  that  it  must  look  to  the  adjacent 
country  for  permanent  employment.  Men 
must  learn  that  it  is  unsafe  to  be  tied  down  to 


26  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

one  way  of  making  a  living.  Every  day  we 
are  more  and  more  impressed  that  the  law  is 
'Hhe  survival  of  the  fittest." 

During  all  the  time  we  were  making  these 
varied  improvements,  immigrants  rushed  to 
this  country  and  continued  to  come  even  after 
we  did  not  have  employment  for  our  own  peo- 
ple. 

Merchants  cannot  sell  goods  in  excess  of 
demand  and  manufacturers  cannot  produce 
goods  in  excess  of  demand.  It  is  evident  that 
all  the  people  in  the  world  cannot  live  in  cities, 
and  in  correcting  the  evils  now  existing  there 
will  have  to  come  an  equilibrium  between  city 
and  country,  employment  and  population. 
One  of  our  great  drawbacks,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  silver  question,  has  been  the  tendency  to 
increase  the  population  in  cities  much  faster 
than  in  the  rural  districts. 

It  was  not  the  demonetization  of  silver  in  1873 
that  caused  the  panic  in  1893,  but  the  Sherman 
law  and  the  possibility  of  free  silver,  and  free 
trade  that  precipitated  it,  that  in  a  measure 
destroyed  our  creditors'  confidence  in  us.  The 
change  of  administration,  with  a  promised 
change  of  policy,  was  another  element.  The 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  2f 

latter,  however,  would  have  been  easily  over- 
come had  the  people  been  in  a  good,  healthy 
business  condition,  but  we  had  all  been  liv- 
ing too  fast,  using  our  credit  too  freely,  and 
when  the  end  brick  fell  down  it  took  every- 
body down  with  it.  To  make  the  matter 
worse  we  began  to  discuss  a  change  in  our 
money  unit.  This  was  poison  to  the  patient, 
and  is  the  one  thing  more  than  any  other 
that  is  responsible  for  keeping  us  down  so 
long. 

A  business  man  who  is  insolvent  often  runs 
an  apparently  successful  business  for  years  by 
shrewd  manipulation,  while  people  have  confi- 
dence in  him,  by  kiting  checks  and  keeping  his 
true  condition  to  himself  ;  but  some  day,  when 
a  check  miscarries,  and  his  condition  becomes 
apparent,  he  is  forced  to  the  wall. 

The  discussion  of  free  silver,  and  the  possi- 
bility that  this  Government  might  pay  its 
debts  with  silver,  that  it  would  establish  silver 
as  a  primary  money,  shattered  the  confidence 
of  our  foreign  creditors  in  us,  who  rightly  rea- 
soned that  "  no  individual  will  be  more  honest 
than  his  government.  If  the  United  States 
establishes  a  silver  basis  our  loans  and  invest- 


28  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

ments  will  all  be  returned  to  us  in  silver." 
This  reasoning,  taken  together  with  the  fact 
that  they  had  been  swindled  on  railroad  and 
corporation  investments,  prompted  them  to 
call  for  their  loans  as  fast  as  due.  They 
called  for  them  in  gold,  they  called  for  their 
interest,  and  demanded  that  its  payment 
should  be  in  gold ;  thus  the  period  of  liquida- 
tion began,  and  it  reached  from  the  Govern- 
ment down  to  the  individual,  from  the  banker 
to  the  customer,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  As  fast  as  any  commercial  paper 
became  due  to  the  foreigner  he  wanted  it ; 
as  fast  as  a  note  became  due  to  the  banker  he 
wanted  the  cash,  in  self-protection,  and  so 
down  through  the  whole  line.  Commercial 
paper  could  not  be  renewed,  the  fires  were  put 
out  in  the  forges,  the  looms  were  shut  down, 
the  merchants  bought  only  "from  hand  to 
mouth."  The  cry  of  hard  times  throughout 
the  land  and  a  possible  change  in  the  money 
unit  has  caused  an  over-cautiousness  with 
even  those  who  have  plenty  of  money,  and 
has  resulted  in  a  withdrawal  of  currency  and 
confidence  from  the  commercial  world. 


GOLD   OE  SILVEfi.  29 

If  we  had  not  been  walking  in  high  air,  on 
"  boomed"  valuations,  living  too  fast,  we 
could  have  stood  all  this.  We  must  learn 
that  we  cannot  earn  one  dollar  and  spend  two 
dollars,  and  that  we  must  not  go  in  debt  for 
more  than  we  can  hope  to  pay.  No,  the 
trouble  is  not  a  lack  of  money,  but  a  lack  of 
confidence.  We  have  seen  very  prosperous 
times  when  there  was  less  money  per  capita 
than  there  is  to-day — there  is  plenty  of  money, 
but  not  enough  employment  for  it ;  idle  money 
means  idle  people,  and  idle  money,  like  idle 
business  blocks  or  untilled  soil,  brings  no  re- 
turns. When  our  money  unit  is  firmly  estab- 
lished and  our  debts  are  paid  or  funded,  and 
free  silver  discussions  become  a  thing  of  the 
past,  we  will  see  an  era  of  prosperity  such  as 
we  have  not  recently  known,  and  we  will  be 
better  for  the  experiences  of  the  past  few 
years— they  will  have  taught  us  some  health- 
ful commercial  lessons. 

"Our  hope  for  our  country  may  rest  upon 
the  fact  that  its  vices  and  errors  have  not 
become  great  enough  to  reach  out  and  stop  the 
wheels  "of  education,  religion  and  the  industry 


30  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

of  its  millions.  .  .  .  This  has  always  been 
a  sensitive  nation.  It  has  never  been  heart- 
less ;  it  has  always  been  susceptible  of  laughter 
and  tears." 


SOME  REASONING. 


MIKE — iv  That   Yankee  contrivance  has  thrown   us  out  of  employment ,• 

taken  the  bread  out  of  our  mouths" 
PAT—"  That  isn't  it— it  is  caused  directly  by  the  demonetization  of  silver. 


I  heard  *  Coin '  say 


CHAPTER  II. 

POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

IT  FTEE  all,  there  isn't  anything  in  this  world 
r\  but  labor.  "  Wealth  is  but  accumulated 
labor."  Happiness  is  the  result  of  satisfac- 
tion. If  the  laborer  is  happy,  the  whole 
world  is  happy. 

When  the  laborer  works  for  himself,  he  is 
at  the  same  time  increasing  the  wealth  of  the 
country.  The  country  should  protect  his 
interests. 

If  he  be  a  farmer,  he  increases  the  wealth 
of  the  country  by  adding  to  its  vegetable 
products. 

If  a  manufacturer,  he  increases  the  wealth 
by  changing  materials  into  more  valuable 
forms. 

If  a  merchant,  he  increases  the  wealth  of 
the  country  by  bringing  things  from  places 
where  they' are  less  valuable,  to  places  where 
they  are  more  valuable. 

"  All  items  of  wealth  have  an  exchangeable 


32  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

value."  This  value  depends  upon  the  cost  of 
production,  and  upon  the  supply  and  demand. 
If  there  be  more  labor  to  sell  than  there  is  a 
demand  for,  it  is  cheap. 

This  one  fact  should  prompt  every  Ameri- 
can, born  or  naturalized,  to  use  all  his  moral 
efforts  to  exclude  cheap  foreign  labor ;  to 
demand  that  the  question  come  before  the 
public  for  their  votes.  A  naturalized  Ameri- 
can is  just  as  good  as  we  are.  His  interests 
are  identical  with  ours.  He  will  be  as 
anxious  to  close  the  doors  as  any  other 
American. 

In  the  commercial  world  a  man  isn't  worth 
any  more  than  a  horse  if  he  doesn't  cost  any 
more  ;  if  he  doesn't  produce  any  more  ;  if  his 
services  don't  sell  for  any  more. 

One  of  the  most  important  conditions  to 
promote  industry  and  increase  the  demand  for 
labor  is  security  of  property.  A  man  wants 
what  he  produces,  whether  it  be  small  or 
great ;  whether  it  be  the  price  of  a  day's  labor 
or  the  result  of  long  accumulations.  No  man 
will  labor  if  he  is  not  certain  that  he  will 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labor.  No  man  will 
sow  if  he  thinks  someone  else  will  reap.  No 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  33 

man  will  accumulate  unless  he  thinks  he  will 
be  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights,  and 
that  he  will  be  allowed  to  do  as  he  wills  with 
his  property. 

This  leads  to  the  thought  that  the  govern- 
ment should  protect  us  whether  our  property 
consists  of  simply  a  day's  work  or  a  large 
fortune. 

It  leads  to  the  thought  that  the  Govern- 
ment has  no  right  to  reduce  or  raise  the  tariff 
on  our  products,  on  goods  already  our  own,  to 
our  injury,  no  more  than  it  has  to  make  an  ex 
post  facto  law.  If  any  changes  or  repeals  in 
the  tariff  or  financial  systems  are  made  affect- 
ing commerce  and  trade,  they  should  not  go 
into  effect  in  less  than  one  year  from  the  time 
passed.  If  we  have  worked  and  produced 
a  large  plant  or  business  under  the  protection 
of  the  Government,  under  existing  laws, 
which  this  change  renders  valueless,  or  less 
valuable,  then  the  Government  should  make 
our  loss  good. 

This  would  establish  a  confidence  that 
would  be  conducive  to  continuous  good  times. 

Again,  money  is  a  thing  whose  value 
should  never  change  while  in  a  man's  pocket. 


34:  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

Our  money  should  be  the  money  of  the 
world. 

Governments  cannot  create  wealth,  but  they 
can  furnish  the  necessary  conditions  for  the 
production  of  wealth.  The  Government  de- 
pends upon  the  people  for  the  production  of 
wealth.  The  people  upon  the  Government  for 
protection  of  wealth. 

In  proportion  as  the  wealth  of  the  country  is 
increased,  the  demand  for  labor  is  increased. 
We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  labor  is  first. 
Man  once  had  nothing  but  his  hands  with 
which  to  work.  Labor  fashioned  tools  and 
made  his  work  more  efficient  and  productive. 

"  Capital  is  nothing  until  labor  takes  hold  of 
it.  A  bag  will  hold  money,  but  a  bag  cannot 
transform  that  money  into  an  iron  road,  a 
bridge,  a  train  of  cars  or  an  engine." 

Finally,  capital  is  only  the  "  saved  result  of 
labor."  If  one  consumes  all  he  produces  he 
will  never  have  any  capital.  With  capital, 
labor  becomes  more  productive.  "  It  is  for  the 
interest  of  labor  that  capital  should  increase, 
that  the  rich  should  grow  richer.  It  is  for  the 
interest  of  every  laborer  that  his  employer 
should  be  prosperous.  If  from  envy  or  any 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  35 

other  cause  he  obstructs  the  prosperity  of  the 
capitalist,  he  does  that  which  tends  to  his  own 
injury.  Capital  is  the  fund  from  which  labor 
is  paid." 

"It  is  desirable  that  some  man  or  some 
group  of  men  shall  amass  money  enough  to 
construct  our  railroads  or  telegraphs,  or  to 
launch  our  steamships  or  conduct  our  large 
public  works,  but  it  is  as  truly  a  law  of  nature 
that  the  majority  of  the  Earth's  people  must 
find  their  happiness  in  that  natural  law  of 
riches,  called  contentment." 

If  the  rich  grow  richer,  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  poor  grow  poorer.  The  more  rich 
people  we  have,  and  the  richer  they  get  by 
legitimate  pursuits,  the  better  for  us  all,  es- 
pecially so  if  they  are  enterprising,  if  they  use 
their  money,  circulate  it  in  their  endeavors  to 
get  more,  and  this  desire  is  all  that  prompts 
them  to  do  so.  It  is  not  to  their  interest  to 
keep  down  the  masses. 

When  a  man  is  engaged  in  a  business  enter- 
prise, when  he  erects  buildings,  makes  rail- 
roads or  improvements,  he  beautifies  the  coun- 
try, enhances  the  value  of  all  other  property, 
he  increases  the  valuation  of  his  taxable  prop- 


36  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

erty,  reduces  the  taxes  upon  other  property, 
taxes  run  the  expenses  of  the  government 
and  help  take  care  of  the  poor.  When  making 
these  improvements  he  furnishes  employment 
for  the  masses,  circulates  money,  and,  as  it 
passes  through  our  hands,  we  ought  to  hang 
on  to  a  little  of  it.  If  we  fail  to  do  this,  is  it 
not,  in  a  measure,  our  fault  ? 

"  Indus  try  and  economy,  the  power  that 
produces  and  preserves  property,  are  twin 
ideas,  strong  when  together,  weak  when  sep- 
arated. The  present  hour  has  such  a  vicious 
appetite  that  no  food  can  be  prepared  for  the 
morrow.  The  board  is  swept  clean  at  each 
meal,  and  still  the  giant  is  hungry.  However 
good  the  wages  of  the  lawyer,  or  clerk,  or 
preacher,  or  judge,  or  smith,  or  laborer,  the 
appetite  of  the  hour  is  fully  equal  to  the  in- 
come. The  summer-time  of  that  little  toiler 
which  the  wise  man  saw  was  a  well-regulated, 
even  thing.  It  had  its  own  natural  demands, 
and  when  the  toiler  had  respected  these,  it 
permitted  her  to  drag  away  a  grain  for  the 
coming  winter.  Had  that  summer-time  been 
a  fickle  and  despotic  creature,  and  had  it  built 
up  a  thousand  excuses  for  taking  away  the 


GOLD   OB  SILVER.  37 

grains  from  that  ant,  that  precious  season 
would  have  become  the  grave  of  that  little 
queen  and  all  her  colony.  It  was  the  salvation 
of  that  little  producer  that  its  season  was  of 
uniform  and  rational  quality,  but  in  the  do- 
main of  us  larger  beings,  the  season  varies  and 
is  liable  to  come  with  wants  so  despotic  and 
outlandish,  that  not  one  out  of  a  million  of  us 
larger  beings  can  get  one  grain  dragged  across 
the  lines  between  our  summer  and  winter." 

Some  people  think  that  if  the  other  fellow  is 
getting  rich  he  is  getting  some  of  their  money, 
depriving  them  of  their  chances  to  become 
rich.  This  subject  is  not  understood.  A  rich 
man  seldom  has  much  of  his  property  in 
money  ;  he  uses  large  sums,  perhaps,  in  busi- 
ness enterprises,  possibly  most  of  it  borrowed 
money,  but  it  all  gets  out  among  tli3  people,  is 
exchanged  by  him  for  honest  labor  or  merchan- 
dise. His  real  wealth,  then,  consists  of  real- 
ties and  improvements.  He  has  beautified  the 
country,  simply  changed  rough  or  raw  mate- 
rials into  more  valuable  and  artistic  forms  and 
paid  for  them.  There  is  still  room  for  us  all  to 
do  the  same  thing  if  we  go  about  it  in  the 
right  way. 


38  COLE   OR   SILVER. 

"  That  some  should  be  rich  shows  that  others 
may  become  rich,  and  hence  is  just  encourage- 
ment to  industry  and  enterprise.  Let  not  him 
who  is  houseless  pull  down  the  house  of 
another,  but  let  him  labor  diligently  and  build 
one  for  himself,  thus  by  example  assuring  that 
his  own  shall  be  safe  from  violence  when 
built.5' 

Envy  often  causes  ignorant  people  to  stop 
and  view  the  prosperous  as  their  enemies,  and 
to  create  such  a  disturbance  and  distrust  that 
the  rich  dare  not  invest — confidence  makes 
nimble  dollars.  It  does  not  rob  anyone  of  his 
light  if  he  allows  others  to  light  therefrom, 
and  he  will  not  hide  it  under  a  bushel  if  itV 
profitable  to  let  it  shine,  therefore  it's  not  a 
good  plan  to  blow  out  or  suppress  the  feeding 
light — capital.  This  we  do  when  we  frighten 
it  out  of  business  enterprises'  and  into  safe  de- 
posit vaults. 

In  the  'fifties  Macauley  wrote,  commenting 
upon  our  institutions  and  Government :  « 

"  The  day  will  come  in  the  United  States 
when  a  multitude  of  people,  none  of  whom 
have  had  more  than  half  a  breakfast  or  expect 
to  have  more  than  half  a  dinner,  will  be  called 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  39 

upon  to  choose  a  Legislature.  On  one  side  is  a 
statesman  preaching  patience,  respect  for 
vested  rights,  strict  observance  of  public  faith. 
On  the  other  is  a  demagogue  ranting  about  the 
tyranny  of  usurers  and  capitalists. 

I  seriously  apprehend  that  you  will  in  time 
see  such  season  of  adversity  as  I  have  described, 
do  things  which  will  prevent  prosperity  from 
returning,  that  you  will  act  like  people  who 
should,  in  a  year  of  scarcity,  devour  all  the 
seed  corn,  and  thus  make  the  next  year  a  year, 
not  of  scarcity,  but  of  absolute  famine." 

If  a  man  is  able  to  employ  five  men  and 
upon  their  work  he  only  makes  fifty  cents 
apiece,  or  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  day,  he 
is  considered  very  reasonable,  indeed,  he  is 
almost  a  philanthropist ;  but  if  another  man  is 
able  to  employ  one  thousand  men  and  upon 
each  man  he  makes  only  ten  cents,  or  one 
hundred  dollars  per  day,  he  is  considered  a 
monopolist  and  isn't  fit  to  live.  The  one  fur- 
nishes employment  for  one  thousand,  the  other 
employment  for  only  five.  Which  is  the  bene- 
factor?" 

"  Capital  is  a  storehouse  of  seeds ;  labor  is 
their  field,  their  soil,  their  rain  and  their  sum- 


40  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

mer  time.  Over  a  potency  so  vast  and  god- 
like, only  wisdom  herself  should  preside.  If 
our  age  has  any  great  men,  men  whose  hearts 
are  warm  and  pure,  and  whose  minds  are  as 
large  as  the  world,  it  should  ask  them  to  pre- 
side over  the  tasks  and  wages  of  the  laborer." 


Olbat  Gave  Statutes  to  Do 
natural  Laws? 


The  natural  law  of  supply  and  demand  al- 
ways establishes  values  on  commodities  —  Gold 
and  Silver  bullion  are  but  commodities  —  Primary 
money  is  but  a  commodity  —  a  gold  eagle  is 
worth  as  much  melted  as  stamped*  The  Gov- 
ernment's stamp  only  signifies  its  purity  and 
standard  weight  —  says  it  has  passed  muster. 

To  coin  two  metals  as  primary  money  at  a 
parity,  it  must  be  done  at  their  relative  values 
as  commodities;  to  maintain  this  parity  THE 
PRODUCTION  AND  THE  COST  OF 
PRODUCTION  MUST  CONTINUE  IN 
THE  SAME  RATIO. 

MONOMETALLISM  HAS  AL- 
WAYS PREVAILED  as  soon  as 
natural  laws  caused  a  difference 
in  their  coining-  values. 

The  American  Indian  who,  perchance,  owned 
bullion  which  was  worth  more  as  such  than 
coined  would  not  allow  the  Government  to  muti- 
late it  by  its  eagle;  if  he  happened  to  have  some 
with  the  stamp  on  itt  he  would  soon  hide  it  or 
transform  it  into  bullion  in  the  smelting  pot  ready 
for  the  best  market* 

WHICH  STANDARD  DO  YOU 
WANT  TO  RATE  YOUR  VALUES 
BY,  GOLD  OR  SILVER?  YOU 
CAN'T  HAVE  BOTH. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME  QUESTIONS,  ANSWERS  AND  DEFINITIONS. 

1.  Q.  What  is  meant  by  primary  money  ? 

'  A.  Money  that  is  made  of  metal  of  real 
value  and  legalized  by  the  government.  Its 
intrinsic  value  establishes  its  real  worth  by  its 
purchasing  power,  whether  it  be  called  a  dollar 
or  a  pound.  Primary  money  is  only  worth 
what  it  weighs.  There  is  no  legal  tender  value 
or  fiat  connected  with  it. 

2.  Q.  What    is  meant  by  the  "Gresham 
law"? 

A.  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  was  a  London  mer- 
chant and  founder  of  the  Royal  Exchange  and 
Gresham  College.  He  spent  his  whole  life  in 
finance.  He  acted  as  factor  for  the  king. 
The  country  was  in  a  bad  financial  condition 
and  Gresham  was  called  on  to  give  his  advice 
and  authorized  to  carry  out  his  own  plans, 
which  were  very  successful.  His  advice  was 
always  sought  upon  all  monetary  questions. 
T3e  discovered  the  natural  la,w  which  still  be 


42  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

his  name,  viz.,  that  two  metals  of  intrinsic 
value  could  not  circulate  side  by  side  as  pri- 
mary money  at  a  parity,  because  their  values 
would  change  with  the  supply  and  demand  of 
either,  and  that  the  cheaper  metal  only  would 
be  used  as  money  ;  the  more  expensive  would 
demonetize  itself — go  out  of  use. 

3.  Q.  Will  our  gold  and  silver  pass  in  other 
countries  ? 

A.  Yes,  by  weight  at  its  bullion  value. 

4.  Q.  What  is  bimetallism  ? 

A.  The  use  of  two  metals  as  primary  money. 

5.  Q.  Is  our  position  bimetallic  to-day  ? 
A.  No ;  we  use  the  two  metals,  but  silver 

only  on  a  maintained,  local  value. 

6.  Q.  What  is  monometallism  ? 

A.  It  means  the  use  of  one  metal  only  as 
a  standard  of  measure,  as  primary  money. 

1.  Q.  Have  we  ever  been  on  a  bimetallic 
system  ? 

A.  Yes,  by  statute ;  but  in  reality  only  a 
short  time.  The  "Gresham  Natural  Law" 
paid  no  attention  to  our  statutes.  From  1812 
to  1834  we  were  on  a  silver  monometallic  basis; 
gold  had  taken  a  vacation.  We  had  the  same 
experience  with  silver  after  1834,  after  we 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  43 

changed  the  ratio  to  16  to  1  and  before  we  en- 
acted the  law  of  1873.  The  law  of  1873  sim- 
ply legalized  what  had  been  our  practice  for 
thirty-nine  years.  We  have  been  upon  a  gold 
monometallic  basis  in  practice  ever  since  1834. 

8.  Q.  Can  Congress  establish  values  on 
metals  ? 

A.  No  more  than  it  can  upon  wheat. 
,    9.     Q.  What  is  seigniorage  ? 

A.  An  ancient  prerogative  of  the  English 
crown  whereby  it  claimed  a  percentage  upon 
every  ingot  of  gold  and  silver  brought  to  the 
mint  to  be  coined.  Hence,  in  such  cases,  a  toll 
for  coining.  In  commercial  law,  the  profit  de- 
rived from  issuing  coins  at  a  rate  above  their 
intrinsic  value.  When  fifty  cents'  worth  of 
silver  is  made  into  one  dollar,  the  seigniorage 
is  fifty  cents. 

10.  Q.  What  is  meant  by  demonetization  ? 
A,  To  deprive  a  metal  of  its  right  to  be 

coined  as  primary  money. 

11.  Q.  What  is  meant  by  subsidiary  coins  ? 
A.  Those  issued  for  small  change ;  denomi- 
nations less  than  one  dollar. 

12.  Q.  What  is  meant  by  free  coinage  ratio 
16  to  1  I 


44  COLD    OR    SILVER. 

A.  That  anyone  having  money  bullion  can 
have  it  coined  by  the  Government,  standard 
size  and  standard  fineness,  with  the  Govern- 
ment's mark  of  value  upon  it.  The  ratio  16 
to  1  means  that  a  certain  quantity  of  the  more 
expensive  metal  is  worth  sixteen  times  as  much 
as  the  same  quantity  of  the  other,  and  conse- 
quently is  coined  into  sizes  on  that  basis. 

13.  Q.  Has  gold  become  scarcer  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  people  since  1873  ? 

A.  No  ;  it  has  increased  much  faster  than 
population  and  has  fallen  in  value,  since  it 
takes  more  to  buy  a  day's  work  now  than  it 
did  then,  based  upon  the  average  of  wages. 

14.  Q.  Is    the    value    of    primary    money 
dependent  upon  legislation  ? 

A.  No  more  than  is  a  bushel  of  corn.  Kep- 
resentative  money  is  created  by  legislation  and 
maintained  at  its  value  by  its  redemable  fea- 
ture. 

15.  Q.  What  have  the  debts  of  the  world 
to-day  to  do  with  the  money  of  the  world  ? 

A.  Nothing  whatever.  "They  will  all  be 
paid  by  the  crops  and  products  of  the  future,  by 
the  hogs  and  cattle  yet  unborn  and  by  iron  and 
coal  yet  in  the  earth."  Money  is  only  a  meas- 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  45 

ure  to  rate  exchanges.  The  merchant  or 
farmer  in  Kansas  "swaps"  his  wheat  for  the 
shoes  of  Boston  just  as  effectually  as  if  the 
goods  were  actually  exchanged  between  the  two 
parties.  The  difference  of  values  or  balances 
only  are  paid  in  money. 

16.  Q.  Would  a  tariff  and  finance  commis- 
sion be  a  good  thing? 

A.  Yes;  we  should  have  a  tariff  and  finance 
commission  appointed  the  same  as  our  Supreme 
Court  Judges,  tenure  of  office  for  life  or  good 
behavior ;  the  office  clothed  with  honors 
enough  to  satisfy  the  best  American,  and  the 
remuneration  sufficient  to  supply  all  temporal 
wants.  One  panic  like  the  one  we  have  just, 
experienced  has  cost  us  more  than  it  v/ould 
cost  to  pay  such  a  commission  for  a  thousand 
years  of  service. 

IT.  Q.  How  is  it  that  our  present  standard 
silver  dollar  is  now  accepted  in  full  payment 
of  a  dollar's  obligations  ? 

A.  Because  it  only  circulates  as  the  proxy 
for  gold,  as  token  money.  Our  Government 
maintains  a  heavy  gold  reserve,  and  says  by 
its  acts,  all  our  dollars  are  as  good  as  gold  dol- 
lars ;  "  We  will  exchange  gold  dollars  for  sil- 


46  GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

ver  dollars  or  paper  dollars  if  they  have  c  our 
eagle'  on  them."  Everybody  knows  its  ability 
to  do  this  and  do  not  demand  the  exchange. 
The  parity  of  the  purchasing  power  of  all  our 
money  is  the  same — maintained  on  a  gold 
basis.  Does  anyone  need  to  be  told  that  the 
purchasing  power  would  only  be  the  value  of 
the  silver  in  the  silver  dollar  if  free  coinage 
w  ere  the  law  and  silver  became  a  rating  stand- 
ard ? 

is  Q  What  do  the  free  silver  ad 
vocates  propose? 

A.  They  propose  that  the  silver  dollar  shall 
pass  upon  its  own  "shape,"  weight  and  fine- 
ness as  primary  money  without  anything  be- 
hind it.  That  it  shall  be  coined  at  the  ratio  of 
1 6  to  1  as  compared  with  gold,  i.  e.  the  silver 
dollar  to  be  sixteen  times  as  heavy  as  the  gold 
dollar.  In  other  words,  that  anyone  who 
owned  pure  silver  would  be  allowed  to  take  it 
to  the  mint  and  have  it  coined  into  "  stand- 
ard "  silver  dollars  weighing  371J  grains,  while 
he  waited,  or,  to  save  time,  they  would  give  him 
silver  dollars  for  what  his  silver  weighed  upon 
that  basis. 

They  propose  to  enact  a  law  that  would 


GOLD   OB   SILVER.  47 

change  the  meaning  of  the  word  dollar,  so  it 
would  only  possess  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  value  of  the  silver"  it  contained,  based 
upon  the  commercial  value  of  silver  in  the 
world,  the  same  as  the  gold  dollar  now  only 
possesses  the  purchasing  power  of  the  value 
of  the  gold  it  contains,  with  the  stamp  of  the 
Government  erased,  if  you  please,  providing 
it  stands  the  test  of  fineness  and  weight. 

Primary  money  passes  wholly  upon  its  in- 
trinsic worth,  and  since  the  ratio  of  com- 
mercial value  to-day  between  the  two  metals 
is  about  30  to  1,  instead  of  16  to  1,  as  they  pro- 
pose to  coin  it,  one  can  readily  see  it  would 
mean  a  reduction  in  the  value  of  our  money 
unit  by  that  difference.  The  principal  office 
of  primary  money  is  only  to  rate  values.  23.2 
grains  is  the  weight  of  a  dollar's  worth  of 
gold. 

I  quote  from  "Coin  Harvey"  to  show  that 
even  the  "  High  Priest "  of  free  silver  is  fully 
aware  that  free  coinage  is  simply  a  proposi- 
tion to  lower  our  standard  of  value  to  the 
silver  basis. 

Coin's  Financial  School  :  "If,  after  a  fair 
trial,  gold  continued  at  premium,  what  rem- 


48  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

edy  would  you  suggest  ?  Put  less  gold  in  the 
gold  dollar.  Bring  the  weight  of  the  gold 
dollar  down  until  they  are  on  a  parity. 

"  If  the  commercial  value  of  23.2  grains  of 
gold  is  more  than  the  commercial  value  of 
37li  grains  of  silver,  then  reduce  it  (the  gold) 
to  22,  21,  20  grains,  or  less." 

Eeducing  the  gold  in  the  dollar  would  leave 
gold  for  more  dollars,  and  this  would  assist  in 
establishing  rising  prices. 

"  We  can,  if  necessary,  by  Act  of  Congress, 
reduce  the  number  of  grains  in  a  gold  dollar, 
until  it  is  of  the  same  value  as  a  silver  dollar. 
We  can  legislate  the  premium  out  of  gold." — 
Coin's  Financial  School,  p.  143. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  He,  like  most 
"Silverites,"  simply  advocates  repudiation. 
He  proposes  to  shave  and  clip  our  gold  dollar 
down  so  as  to  make  it  fit  his  free-coinage  silver 
dollar.  The  commercial  value  of  37li  grains 
of  silver  is  only  equal  to  12  grains  of  gold. 
This  is,  therefore,  simply  a  proposition  to  reduce 
the  value  of  our  dollar  so  that  it  shall  be  repre- 
sented by  only  12  grains  of  gold  instead  of 
grains  of  gold,  as  at  present. 

From  the  following  quotation  you  will  see 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  49 

that  Alexander  Hamilton  viewed  this  question 
in  a  different  light  from  Mr.  Harvey.  He  said  : 
"  There  is  scarcely  any  point  in  the  economy 
of  national  affairs  of  greater  moment  than  the 
uniform  preservation  of  the  intrinsic  value  of 
the  money  unit." 

Dr.  William  Preston  Hill,  of  St.  Louis,  in 
his  book  entitled  "The  Silver  Question  in  a 
Nutshell,"  puts  this  question  plainly  in  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"Many  people  innocently  imagine  that  the 
free  coinage  of  silver  is  simply  a  proposition  to 
open  our  mints  more  freely  to  silver  and  to 
maintain  our  money  at  its  present  standard  of 
value  on  the  gold  basis,  and  that  by  adopting 
free  coinage  we  are  not  going  to  debase  and 
lower  the  value  of  our  money,  but  raise  the 
price  of  silver  all  over  the  world  to  a  16  to  1 
ratio  with  gold.  There  could  be  no  greater 
mistake.  They  fail  to  see  that  it  also  involves 
a  change  in  our  unit,  standard  or  measure  of 
value.  If  the  proposition  was  that  the  United 
States  should  give  a  gold  dollar  for  every  371J 
grains  of  pure  silver  brought  to  the  mints,  then 
that  would  really  be  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
our  Government  to  raise  the  price  of  silver  ; 
and  how  long  we  could  raise  it  would  depend 
on  how  much  silver  there  was  in  the  world  and 
how  much  gold  we  had." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WHY  SOME   THEORIES  ARE   WRONG. 

ALL  free  coinage  advocates  tell  us  that  if  we 
had  more  money  per  capita,  if  the  Gov- 
ernment coined  more,  that  we  would  get  bet- 
ter prices  for  everything.  If  the  theory  was 
right  we  would  also  have  to  pay  more  for  every- 
thing we  bought,  but  it  is  wrong. 

"  Experience  is  the  best  teacher."  We  will 
make  comparisons  that  come  within  the 
knowledge  and  experience  of  most  voters.  In 
1870  we  only  had  $18.73  per  capita,  most 
things  were  higher  then  than  now.  In  1880 
we  had  $24.04  per  capita,  prices  were  higher 
then  than  now.  To-day  we  have  about  $25 
per  capita,  more  than  in  either  of  the  former 
cases,  and  now  the  prices  are  lower  than  in 
either  of  the  former  periods. 

France  has  almost  twice  as  much  money  per 
capita  as  England,  and  the  prices  of  merchan- 
dise and  labor  in  both  countries  are  practically 
the  same.  Where  are  the  illustrations  for  this 
"School's"  theories? 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  51 

With  our  increased  facilities  of  exchange 
we  do  not  need  as  much  money  now  as  we  did  ; 
the  larger  part  of  our  exchanges  employ  bills 
of  exchange — the  balances  only  are  paid  in 
money  ;  the  commodities  change  hands. 

In  1860-64  in  moving  about  $18,500,000,000 
worth  of  merchandise  between  countries,  it 
required  over  $3,000,000,000  of  primary  money 
to  make  the  exchanges  pay  the  balances,  or 
about  seventeen  per  cent  as  much  specie  in 
value  as  merchandise. 

In  1886-90  when  more  than  $36,200,000,000 
worth  of  merchandise  moved  between  the  same 
countries,  with  our  increased  facilities,  it  only 
required  the  use  of  about  $2,700,000,000  specie, 
or  about  seven  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the 
value  of  merchandise  in  specie ;  during  this 
time  the  volume  of  gold  and  silver  increased 
sixty-two  per  cent.  We  have  reached  a  point 
now  where  we  only  need  primary  money  to 
rate  the  standard  for  exchanges. 

The  question  is  often  asked  how  we  so 
nearly  maintained  the  parity  of  silver  and  gold 
up  to  1873  ;  the  above  partly  answers  the  ques- 
tion, but  other  elements  entered  into  it.  From 
1853  to  1866  the  exports  of  silver  to  the  Orient 


52  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

from  Europe  drained  that  country,  and  many 
countries  that  now  refuse  to  rate  exchanges 
upon  silver  then  took  it.  Then  it  required 
large  volumes  of  specie  (and  silver  was  then 
accepted  and  shipped)  to  make  the  exchanges 
between  nations.  Now,  the  values  in  most 
cases  are  rated  by  gold,  and  the  cables  between 
the  countries  announce  the  balances,  and  but 
little  specie  is  shipped,  and  that  in  most  cases 
is  required  in  gold. 

When  business  in  this  country  is  normal 
and  we  are  doing  our  share,  with  the  balance 
of  trade  where  it  belongs,  we  can  hold  up  our 
end,  especially  so  as  we  are  one  of  the  greatest 
gold-producing  countries  of  the  world. 

The  unemployed  are  the  only  laborers  who 
are  unhappy  to-day.  Statistics  show  that  the 
average  of  wages  has  steadily  increased  from 
1850  to  1890,  passing  the  period  which  is 
pointed  to  as  the  time  when  our  great  calam- 
ity was  thrust  upon  us,  the  year  of  1873. 
"  Labor  is  the  only  true  measure  of  value." 
In  1850  the  average  price  per  capita  in  the  fac- 
tories of  the  United  States  was  $247  per  year, 
in  1860  $288,  in  1880  $346,  in  1890  $484. 
There  has  also  been  an  increased  valuation  on 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  53 

farm  lands  during  the  same  period  from  about 
$11  to  over  $21  per  acre,  and  live  stock  per 
head  has  about  doubled  in  the  same  time. 

This  is  on  a  gold  basis,  and  shows  conclu- 
sively that  gold  has  not  risen  as  our  free  silver 
advocates  would  have  us  understand,  but  it 
has  clearly~shown  during  all  this  time  a  loss 
of  purchasing  power  for  the  standard  meaSure, 
labor.  All  our  money  is  gold  standard,  and 
the  rates  of  interest  are  lower.  This  is  another 
proof  that  it  has  not  risen.  There  is  no  doubt, 
however,  but  that  gold  has  fluctuated  less 
than  any  other  metal  or  commodity,  thus  es- 
tablishing itself  as  the  best  measure  of  value. 

Ex-Senator  Straus,  writing  to  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  says  : 

"Go  to  Mexico  to-day,  and  with  an  Ameri- 
can silver  dollar,  which  contains  less  silver 
than  a  Mexican  dollar,  you  can  purchase  fifty 
cents'  worth  of  merchandise  and  get  a  Mex- 
ican dollar  besides.  This  conclusively  shows 
that  in  a  country  which  has  free  coinage  of 
silver  the  money  sinks  to  the  level  of  its  bull- 
ion value.  The  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver  advocates  say  that  the  decline  in  all 
commodities  is  an  indication  of  the  apprecia- 


54  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

tion  of  gold.  A  man  who  was  the  possessor 
of  $1,000  in  gold  in  1860  had  no  difficulty  in 
lending  it  on  improved  real  estate  and  earning 
$70  per  annum.  The  same  $1,000  invested  in 
like  security  to-day  will  earn  only  $40.  This 
clearly  shows  that  money  then  earned  seventy- 
five  per  cent  more  than  it  is  capable  of  earn- 
ing fo-day.  Does  this  not  completely  refute 
the  argument  that  everything  has  declined  but 
gold?" 

"When  the  days  of  election  come,  our  in- 
telligent millions  divide  themselves  in  three  or 
four  parties,  that  instead  of  pushing  the 
nation  forward  they  may  fight  against  each 
other." 


PROFIT  AND  LOSS. 

Whafs  one  man's  gain  is  sometimes  another  man's  loss.    The  men  who  used 

to  use  the  shovel  are  out  of  employment. 

CONSOLING.—  "  That  blamed  machine  can  do~tke  work  of  a  hundred 
men%  but  it  carft  vote.'1  .  I 


CHAPTER  V. 

WHY  SOME   PRICES  ARE   LOWER. 

ONE  need  only  observe  his  surroundings  to 
answer  this  question.  Pat  used  to  carry 
all  of  the  brick  to  the  top  of  the  building. 
"  There  was  a  man  up  there  who  did  all  the 
work."  For  some  years  a  simple  endless  chain 
has  taken  his  place  and  performed  the  work 
much  better  and  at  less  expense,  and  since  Pat 
was  not  an  artist  or  a  musician  he  has  had 
some  trouble  in  placing  his  services  where  he 
could  get  as  much  money  as  he  did  before. 

While  passing  along  the  streets  of  one  of  our 
cities  the  other  day  our  attention  was  called  to 
an  excavating  machine  where  two  men  and 
four  horses  were  doing  the  work  of  one  hun- 
dred or  more  men  with  perfect  ease.  The 
question  is,  Where  are  the  men  who  ence 
used  the  shovel,  and  what  are  they  doing  ? 
With  this  new  invention  work  becomes  a  pas- 
time. The  machine  itself,  which  was  but  a 
huge  wagon  with  a  plow  or  scraper  attached, 


56  GOLD    OR   SILVER, 

connected  with  a  carrier  or  endless  belt,  was 
driven  along  with  ease,  and  the  dirt  was  loaded 
into  a  wagon  driven  at  its  side,  loading  it  in 
just  fifteen  seconds,  when  another  wagon 
drove  under  the  chute.  The  laborer  rode. 

The  telephone  has  taken  the  place  of  the 
messenger  boy,  electricity  the  place  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  street-car  horses  during 
the  last  few  years.  Facilities  to  produce  or 
manufacture  have  increased  faster  than  the 
demand  for  the  goods. 

A  few  years  ago  the  great  prairies  of  the 
West  were  inhabited  by  buffaloes  ;  to-day  they 
are  the  garden  spots  of  farming,  employing  all 
the  labor-saving  devices  and  improved  machin- 
ery known  to  that  vocation,  and  with  the  easy 
transportation  to  the  seaboard  they  can  load  a 
foreign  vessel  with  the  products  of  the  field 
much  cheaper  than  it  can  be  done  by  the  East- 
ern farmer. 

The  same  advantages  have  come  to  the  pro- 
ducers of  our  meats  which  used  to  be  furnished 
to  the  cities  and  villages  by  the  adjacent 
country,  but  which  now  are  transported  by 
rail  to  the  slaughtering  factories  of  the  great 
packing  houses,  where  machinery  has  again 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  57 

taken  the  place  of  common  labor  and  where 
thousands  of  animals  are  slaughtered  and 
dressed  daily  by  simply  "  pressing  the  but- 
ton." These  carcasses  are  either  packed  by 
machinery  or  run  on  the  carrying  cranes  into 
the  modern  refrigerator  cars  and  in  a  few 
hours  transported  to  any  market  in  the  United 
States,  or  in  a  remarkably  short  time  to  any 
market  in  the  world — the  old  method  gives 
way  to  the  new. 

In  1830,  when  we  used  to  work  fourteen 
hours  a  day  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
goods,  a  single  operator  could  produce  only 
about  four  thousand  yards  in  a  year ;  in  1840 
about  nine  thousand  yards  a  year  ;  and  in 
1890,  with  the  working  time  reduced  to  ten 
hours  a  day,  an  operator  produced  over  thirty 
thousand  yards  of  the  same  goods. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  labor- saving 
devices,  improvements  and  results.  In  all 
cases  the  consumer  has  been  benefited  by  a 
reduction  in  price,  but  the  requirements  for 
the  number  of  laborers  has  been  reduced. 
These  things  will  adjust  themselves  in  time 
and  become  beneficial  to  all. 

Education  must  be  broader  ;  too  many  have 


58  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

been  tied  down  to  one  way  of  making  a  living, 
and  when  machinery  has  taken  their  places, 
sometimes  in  old  age,  it  has  left  them  without 
any  means  of  support.  The  old  custom  of 
learning  a  trade  has  lost  its  value  ;  the  shoe 
maker  or  the  man  who  could  make  a  "  whole 
watch  "  has  come  to  be  a  journeyman  without 
a  demand. 

The  progress  of  science  and  the  application 
of  invention  has  placed  the  man  who  digs  and 
delves  in  the  rear  ranks.  Wages  generally 
have  risen.  It  is  to-day  he  who  produces  the 
maximum  of  product  with  the  minimum  of 
exertion  and  time  who  is  in  demand.  A  day's 
work  to-day  buys  more  than  it  ever  did  before. 
It  is  the  unemployed  who  are  unhappy — the 
fact  that  a  day's  work  buys  more  is  surely  an 
evidence  of  progress. 

While  improved  machinery  has  been  taking 
the  places  of  our  laborers,  immigrants,  com- 
mon laborers,  have  flocked  here  and  swelled 
the  ranks  of  the  unemployed.  During  the 
last  twenty-five  years  our  population  has  been 
increased  by  this  process  by  a  number  that 
would  people  thirteen  States  like  Maine  as 
densely  as  it  is  now  populated. 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  59 

"Immigration  will  soon  be  checked  by  the 
evident  fact  that  there  is  no  work  and  no  pay 
for  any  more  millions  from  abroad.  The 
American  paradise  is  at  last  overrun.  We 
have  more  laborers  than  work." 

I  have  read  somewhere  of  an  economist 
who  attempted  to  show  that  the  prices  of  the 
necessities  of  life  had  not  been  reduced  in  the 
following  manner  :  He  took  a  farmer  out  on 
a  trip,  he  pays  the  same  street-car  fare  that  he 
did  in  1873,  but  this  fellow  who  is  trying  to 
make  things  appear  wrong  forgets  to  tell  us 
that  he  can  ride  many  times  as  far  and  in 
much  nicer  cars,  and  in  much  less  time,  yes, 
can  be  transferred  all  over  the  city  for  the  one 
fare ;  can  be  taken  to  the  suburbs,  where  one 
can  live  for  one-half  what  he  can  inside,  and 
enjoy  the  fresh  air  and  quiet  of  almost  coun- 
try life. 

He  ascertains  that  the  county  judge  gets  the 
same  salary  as  he  used  to,  and  this  same  fel- 
low tells  you  that  all  laborers  get  less — the 
judge  is  a  laborer,  but  one  whose  place  the  im- 
migrant cannot  fill,  neither  can  it  be  filled  by 
improved  machinery.  He  pays  his  taxes- 
taxes  pay  labor — he  gets  a  shave  and  pays  the 


60  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

laborer  the  same  as  he  used  to.  He  buys  tea 
an$  coffee,  this  we  do  not  produce.  He  tele- 
graphs and  rides  in  a  Pullman  car,  but  forgets 
to  tell  us  how  much  the  service  is  improved. 
He  stops  at  a  hotel  and  does  not  compare  the 
accommodations  he  gets  with  those  of  years 
ago — he  could  get  much  better  now  at  the 
same  price  or  less  than  he  did  then. 

This  "  Napoleon  of  Finance,"  this  corrector 
of  all  evils,  selected  nearly  everything  he  could 
where  the  prices  were  the  same,  but  neglected 
to  call  attention  to  many  of  the  necessities  of 
life  and  other  commodities  that  have  declined 
in  price  as  much  or  more  than  has  the  farmer's 
wheat,  such  as  silver  bullion,  clothing,  meat, 
fuel,  lumber,  drugs,  house  furnishing  goods, 
sugar,  etc.,  and  he  does  not  explain  that  the 
overproduction  of  wheat  is  what  has  reduced 
its  value.  He  uses  it  as  an  illustration  simply 
because  it  is  one  of  the  lowest  commodities 
raised  and  because  he  wants  the  farmer's  vote; 
he  does  not  tell  the  farmer  that  if  he  sold  his 
wheat  for  silver  that  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  money  would  be  reduced  one-half  ;  neither 
does  he  tell  him  the  true  reason  "why"  wheat 
is  so  low. 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  61 

We  used  to  export  large  quantities  of  wheat 
and  get  the  gold.  During  the  past  few  years 
things  have  changed  and  our  manufacturers 
of  agricultural  implements  have  become  the 
exporters  and  the  foreigner  has  gone  to  raising 
wheat  on  our  plan,  producing  it  by  machinery, 
as  it  were.  We  will  have  to  grow  wheat  on  a 
smaller  scale. 

We  are  too  apt  to  run  any  industry  into  the 
ground.  When  wheat  was  high  we  all  went 
to  raising  wheat. 

For  the  last  few  years  everybody  who  could 
has  gone  into  the  bicycle  business.  There  will 
be  a  crash  in  that  line.  If  there  is  one  don't 
lay  it  to  legislation  on  silver  over  twenty  years 
ago.  Kemember  supply  and  demand  controls. 

In  1860  we  will  say  100  per  cent  of  labor 
bought  100  per  cent  of  clothing.  In  1890, 
82^-  per  cent  of  labor  bought  100  per  cent  of 
clothing.  The  following  table,  computed  by 
the  Finance  Committee  of  the  United  States 
Government,  under  the  direction  of  Col.  Car- 
roll D.  Wright,  shows  the  relative  value  of 
labor  and  products  in  gold  from  1845  to  1860, 
and  from  that  time  to  1890 — counting  as  a 
standard  that  in  1860  100  per  cent  of  labor  paid 
for  100  per  cent  of  products  : 


62 


GOLD    OR   SILVER. 


g 


w 

o 

tf 

£ 


O 


SrHlC 
<*> 

5OCilO<MCOa>T-iC*aOC5iO        CO        i>CO 

00  cooTfocDocoioaJcoTHcqcQO^foi 

THOOC^TH 

do 

TH 

o 

T^"«O  O5  O 
1C 

g  ^ooJtfTHWrH'r^-^^cQQQ 

§000000000000000 
ooooooooooooooo 

£>1O£>THOO-H/IC<*THC<>TH         lO'**  ?O 

o          cqi>cocooqcQcooj>coi>osoo      co?o 

H  TH  rH  TH  TH 

coooaooo*>oq      co*# 

-tOC5Oi-iOQOOOi>OOSOO 

:::::.::::§ 

TJ 

I-    :.]  H 

,  .5  .  .       .    O       *  fj 


. 

o  -S  c"jo  a)-^ 


WANTED  100000  HORSES 

US.  CAVALRY 


CHANGE   IN   VALUES. 


1  One  hundred  thousand  horses  wanted"      This  demand  could  soon  6t 
lied  by  those  recently  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the 
use  of  the   trolley  system   and  bicycles^   without 
any  perceptible    advance   in  prices* 


CHAPTER  VI. 

BOOMED    VALUES. 

WE  have  boomed  valuations  in  real  estate 
and  other  property,  but  could  not  main- 
tain them.  Would  it  be  policy  for  us  to  boom 
money  and  could  we  maintain  it  ?  Would  not 
the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  soon  establish 
its  value  the  same  as  it  always  does  of  every- 
thing ?  We  cannot  create  anything  without 
material  and  labor.  Governments  cannot 
create  values  by  legislation  ;  they  can  surround 
us  with  laws  to  protect  our  property,  they  can 
make  laws  that  will  impart  confidence  and 
promote  industry,  but  they  cannot  create 
wealth.  If  the  Government  is  capable  of  mak- 
ing fifty  cents'  worth  of  silver  into  one  dollar's 
worth  of  money,  why  is  it  not  just  as  capable 
of  making  a  fifty-cent  bushel  of  wheat  worth 
one  dollar  ? 

With  this  logic,  that  the  Government  can 
make  money,  why  should  one  class  be  favored, 
why  should  we  favor  the  mine  owner,  the  silver 


64  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

producer  and  not  the  farmer,  or  those  who 
produce  iron,  coal,  copper,  etc.  ? 

If  we  are  going  to  make  a  cheap  class  of  mill- 
ionaires, why  not  give  everybody  the  same 
chance  ?  This  is  a  republic.  We  don't  want 
to  see  class  legislation.  A  dollar's  worth  of  sil- 
ver is  worth  just  as  much  as  a  dollar  in  gold,  if 
there  is  one  hundred  cents'  worth  of  silver  in 
it.  If  the  free  silver  advocates  would  in- 
sist upon  putting  a  dollar's  worth  of  silver  in- 
to the  silver  dollar,  it  would  not  be  so  bad,  but 
they  want  to  sell  us  fifty  cents'  worth  for  one 
dollar. 

We  cannot  create  anything  by  legislation. 
We  cannot  keep  two  kinds  of  primary  money 
at  a  parity  by  legislation,  even  if  the  whole 
world  would  agree  upon  it.  The  only  way  is 
to  establish  one  as  a  standard  and  coin  the 
other  as  it  is  demanded,  redeeming  it  in  the 
standard  money,  if  required.  Let  the  Govern- 
ment purchase  what  silver  bullion  it  needs  at 
its  market  value  and  coin  it  as  required  and 
take  its  own  chances  upon  the  loss  and  profit 
that  may  come  from  its  fluctuation.  Silver  is 
but  a  product  of  nature  and,  like  all  other  prod- 
ucts, has  gone  up  and  down  according  to  the 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  65 

supply  and  demand  and  cost  of  production,  and 
not  by  notions  or  legislation. 

Fifty  cents'  worth  of  silver  cannot  T>e  made 
into  a  dollar's  worth  of  primary  money,  and 
make  that  dollar  buy  a  hundred  cents'  worth 
of  merchandise.  Our  present  silver  dollar  only 
passes  as  such  because  our  Government  would 
redeem  it  in  gold  if  demanded.  It  is  this  gold 
indorsement  that  the  people  accept.  The  trade 
dollar,  although  a  little  better, intrinsically,  is 
not  thus  supported  by  the  Government,  and 
consequently  it  does  not  pass  as  a  dollar. 

Primary  money,  whether  gold  or  silver, 
should  not  circulate  except  as  subsidiary, 
money,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  destroyed  by 
the  arts,  manufactured  into  jewelry,  etc.,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  estimate  with  any  degree  of 
certainty  how  much  primary  money  we  have. 
Paper  money  only  should  circulate,  paper 
money  that  is  "  redeemable  in  the  money  of 
the  world." 

The  United  States  Treasury  should  contain  all 
the  primary  money  except  such  as  is  nec- 
essary to  pay  the  balances  between  nations. 
All  the  gold  that  is  received  from  abroad  in 
exchange  for  our  merchandise  should  find  its 


66  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

way  to  our  Treasury  and  paper  money  take  its 
place.  The  amount  of  money  required  per 
capita  should  be  ascertained  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible, and  corrected  by  an  issue  of  currency 
every  ten  years,  when  a  new  census  is  taken, 
all  of  which  should  be  redeemable  in  "the 
world's  "  established  primary  money. 

What  we  need  more  than  anything  else  is  a 
fixed  basis  for  our  monetary  system,  some- 
thing that  does  not  change  with  the  whims 
and  notions  of  interested  parties,  something 
that  will  establish  and  maintain  the  confidence 
of  the  world  in  the  integrity  of  the  United 
States  and  our  people. 

A  commission  could  decide  this  question  and 
all  the  financial  questions  that  will  come  up  in 
the  future  much  better  than  the  politicians 
and  the  people  at  large.  The  reason  that  our 
first  Congress  did  things  so  well  at  that  time 
was  because  there  were  so  few  members,  and 
they  were  accorded  absolute  power  upon  all 
questions  of  importance.  The  people  voted 
for  the  propositions  of  their  representatives, 
and  approved  them.  To-day  the  statesmen 
we  have  are,  in  many  cases,  waiting  to  feel 
the  public  pulse  before  deciding  upon  a  policy. 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  67 

"  Should  the  enormous  majority  aqt  as  they 
think,  in  five  years  this  would  be  an  ideal 
republic.  Our  nation  came  up  from  a  group 
of  men  who  acted  as  they  thought.  Thus  all 
good  has  come." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A     COMMON     ERROR. 

MANY  think  we  are  using  silver  as  primary 
money  to-day,  and  because  it  buys  just  as 
much  as  gold  they  don't  see  why  it  is  not  just 
as  good.  They  think  our  coin  is  bimetallic. 
The  facts  are,  we  are  not  using  a  dollar's  worth 
of  silver  money,  but  silver  as  representative 
money,  silver  based  on  gold,  because  the  policy 
of  our  Government  is  to  make  and  keep  it 
good,  to  exchange  a  gold  dollar  for  every  silver 
dollar  if  required.  Silver  has  "  The  World's 
Money,"  the  glittering  security,  behind  it. 

If  the  Sherman  law  had  not  been  repealed 
how  long  could  the  Government  have  main- 
tained the  gold  value  of  a  silver  dollar?  If 
coined  in  unlimited  quantities  how  long  before 
the  quantity  of  silver  currency  would  become 
too  large  to  redeem  or  to  attempt  to  redeem  ? 
How  long  would  it  be  before  it  would  become 
a  commodity  worth  only  what  it  weighed,  the 
same  as  gold  is  now  only  worth  what  it 
weighs. 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  69 

The  largest  part  of  our  silver  money  was 
made  only  to  accommodate  the  Western  mine 
owners,  to  secure  their  votes.  The  politicians 
passed  the  laws  since  1873  for  its  coinage  sim- 
ply to  keep  the  Western  vote  in  line.  No 
statesman  or  political  economist  ever  thought 
for  one  moment  we  could  maintain  a  parity 
between  the  two  metals.  Legislators  have 
tried  this  and  tried  that ;  passed  the  Bland- 
Allison  bill  and  then  the  Sherman  Act,  which 
nearly  bankrupted  the  country,  as  a  compromise 
simply  because  they  did  not  have  the  political 
courage  to  come  out  squarely  on  the  issue  and 
repudiate  the  whole  thing  and  say  frankly  to 
the  world,  "As  large  and  powerful  as  the 
United  States  is  we  cannot  perform  impossi- 
bilities, we  cannot  regulate  the  laws  of  supply 
and  demand,  or  control  the  laws  of  gravity  or 
the  tides  of  the  ocean.  No  government  has 
ever  been  able  to  coin  the  two  metals  and 
keep  them  at  a  parity  but  a  short  time,  and 
most  governments  have  tried  it." 

For  years  both  great  parties  have  been 
framing  platforms  with  the  words  "  sound 
money,"  that  in  the  East  have  been  made  to 
\nean  gold  and  in  the  West  silver — vote-catch- 


70  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

ers.  This  has  allowed  the  silver  sentiment  to 
grow.  It  is  high  time  that  a  platform  be 
placed  before  the  people  that  says  and  means 
gold. 

To-day  our  so-called  statesmen  with  their 
hands  upon  the  pulse  of  their  Western  friends 
always  preface  every  utterance  upon  the  sub- 
ject with  the  remark,  "We  are  friendly  to 
silver."  Why  do  they  not  come  out  flat- 
footed  and  say,  a  Silver  cannot  be  used  as 
primary  money  together  with  gold  in  the 
same  capacity.  Two  standards  cannot  be 
maintained  at  a  parity  by  legislation." 

But  no,  they  get  around  it  by  saying,  "  We 
must  all  work  for  an  international  conference 
and  agreement  establishing  a  ratio  between 
the  metals."  This  they  know  will  never  come, 
and  they  also  know  that  the  whole  world 
could  not  maintain  a  double  standard,  could  not 
control  natural  laws.  Sir  Thomas  Gresham 
discovered  as  great  and  important  a  fixed  law 
when  he  discovered  that  two  metals  of  differ- 
ent intrinsic  values  cannot  circula-te  side  by 
sirle  at  a  parity  as  Sir  Isaac  Newton  did  when 
he  discovered  the  law  of  gravitation.  Of 
course,  if  the  whole  world  would  try  the 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  71 

experiment  at  the  same  time  it  would  not 
create  any  panic  such  as  an  independent 
action  by  one  nation  would,  but  one  of  the 
metals,  the  one  undervalued  by  statute,  would 
soon  demonetize  itself,  hide,  go  out  of  use,  be 
melted  and  sold  as  bullion,  and  finally  the 
cheaper  money  only  would  be  used. 

Again,  regardless  of  even  a  maintained 
value  as  we  now  have  it,  we  cannot  make  the 
people  of  this  country  use  much  silver,  they 
do  not  want  it,  it  is  too  heavy.  I  doubt  if  you 
could  even  get  Peffer,  Jones  or  Crisp,  the 
strongest  admirers  of  silver,  to  accept  in 
change  on  a  commercial  transaction  twenty 
silver  dollars  without  a  strong  kick.  They 
would  say,  "  Can't  you  give  me  paper  or  even 
gold  ? "  If  they  did  accept  it  (for  effect  just 
now)  they  would  at  once  deposit  it  in  the  near- 
est bank,  and  that  institution  would  at  its 
earliest  convenience  pay  the  express  charges 
upon  it  to  the  United  States  Treasury,  where 
it  would  be  piled  up  with  about  five  and  one- 
half  million  other  idle  dollars  of  the  same 
kind. 

We  have  coined  to  date  about  625,000,000 
silver  dollars  and  we  are  able  to  keep  in  circu- 


72  GOLD  OR  SILVER. 

lation  only  about  $56,000,000,  or  one-eleventh 
of  this  amount.  Is  this  not  sufficient  evidence 
that  the  people  do  not  want  it,  and  that  the 
public  demonetizes  it?  Is  it  not  foolish  to 
point  to  the  action  of  Congress  in  1873  and 
accuse  that  body  of  being  leagued  with  some 
organized  force  that  was  trying  to  down  us  ? 
In  order  to  appeal  to  the  people  to  create  senti- 
ment the  free  silverites  state  that  this  bill  was 
passed  secretly  or,  in  other  words,  that  our 
Congressmen  did  not  know  what  they  were 
voting  for. 

It  is  useless  to  discuss  this  matter.  The  bill 
was  pending  during  five  sessions  of  Congress, 
was  printed  and  reprinted,  but  as  no  one  then 
producing  silver  was  interested  in  it  the  awful 
"  Crime  "  was  not  discovered  until  some  twenty 
years  after,  when  improved  mining  machinery 
and  increased  production  throughout  the  world 
had  so  reduced  the  price  of  silver  that  it  was 
not  as  profitable  as  the  producers  would  like  to 
have  it  to  mine  it,  consequently  they  sur- 
rounded themselves  with  a  cheap  class  of  poli- 
ticians, demagogues,  who  would  never  have  a 
chance  to  appear  before  the  people  again,  and 
taking  the  hard  times  as  opportune,  started  by 


GOLD   OR    SILVER. 


73 


various  causes,  but  prolonged  by  this  agitation, 
they  immediately  discovered  that  all  troubles, 
social  and  other,  came  directly  from  the 
demonetization  of  silver  in  1873.  "  What 
fools  we  mortals  be ''  not  to  have  discovered  it 
before. 

The  world  recognizes  the  single  gold  stand- 
ard. You  can  make  statutes  and  legislate  till 
you  are  grayheaded,  and  still  the  same  single 
standard  will  be  recognized.  Every  paper  dol- 
lar and  all  kinds  of  money  was  based  upon  a 
single  standard,  gold,  long  before  the  act  of 
'73.  There  is  not  a  silver  standard  nation  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  to-day  that  will  not  accept 
gold  at  a  premium,  thus  establishing  the  fact 
that  gold  really  measures  the  value  even  of  its 
money,  and  there  is  not  a  gold  standard  coun- 
try that  will  accept  silver  only  at  its  bullion 
value  and  in  most  cases  then  at  a  discount. 

In  1792  our  forefathers  were  called  upon  to 
establish  a  measure  of  value,  and  they  did  it 
to  the  best  of  their  ability.  Experience  upon 
this  subject  then  was  limited.  Is  it  strange 
that  they  should  have  made  a  mistake  ?  The 
relative  value  of  the  metals  then  was  about 
fifteen  to  one,  so  they  started  the  two  coins  out 


74  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

upon  that  basis.  But  how  long  did  they  travel 
together  ?  In  a  short  time  it  was  found  that 
gold  had  been  undervalued  by  statute ;  in 
other  words,  the  supply  and  demand  for  the 
two  metals  varied,  and  the  amount  of  gold  in 
the  dollar  was  found  to  be  worth  more  than  a 
dollar.  Consequently  it  was  not  used  as 
money,  but  was  immediately  hoarded  or 
melted  and  the  cheaper  money  only  used.  If 
you  had  two  kinds  of  money  in  your  inside 
pocket,  one  that  the  supply  and  demand  made 
worth  a  dollar  and  five  cents  as  compared  with 
the  other,  do  you  think  that  you  would  dis- 
charge your  obligations  with  the  more  expen- 
sive money,  or  would  you  use  the  cheaper  ? 
And  if  you  did  not  have  it,  would  you  not 
exchange  it  for  the  cheaper  and  save  the  pre- 
mium before  you  paid  the  bill  ?  Most  certainly 
you  would.  Could  any  law  prevent  you  from 
doing  this  ?  No.  The  money  would  be  yours, 
and  you  and  everybody  else  who  had  it  would 
proceed  to  demonetize  the  better  money.  This 
has  always  been  the  case  and  always  will  be. 

Much  stress  is  laid  upon  "  the  money  of  our 
Constitution" — for  sentiment.  Our  Constitu- 
tion never  made  any  money.  It  provided  a 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  75 

means  of  creating,  changing  and  correcting 
our  monetary  system,  and  we  have  always 
attempted  to  do  this.  This  is  what  our  Congress 
did  in  1873  ;  but  when  we  have  come  in  con- 
tact with  natural  laws  our  legislation  has  been  * 
disregarded.  The  acts  of  Hamilton  and  others 
in  establishing  our  values  are  held  with  much 
reverence,  but  these  men  were  fallible.  To 
some  it  would  almost  be  regarded  as  heresy  to 
refer  to  the  Burr-Hamilton  duel,  but  it  only 
shows  that  these  men  were  human  and  that 
they  made  mistakes  then  as  men  do  now. 

"It  was  not  the  special  purpose  and  en- 
deavor of  our  fathers  that  gave  us  just  such  a 
nation,  for  its  extent,  its  inventions,  its  equal- 
ity, its  education,  are  far  beyond  their  dream. 
We  must  confess  our  land  to  be  the  result  of  a 
great  unrest  in  the  human  bosom,  the  result, 
not  of  an  aspiration  for  a  release  from  taxa- 
tion, but  of  a  deep  revival  of  practical  philoso- 
phy, of  science,  of  industry  and  true  religion." 

With  all  due  respect  to  our  forefathers  and 
the  good  old  times  of  our  "  daddies,"  I  must 
say  that  from  what  I  know  of  them  and  their 
comforts  as  compared  with  those  of  to-day,  I 
must  confess  the  best  thing  that  can  be  said  of 


76  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

those  times  is  that  they  are  gone.  We  can 
glance  backward  and  imitate  the  good  and  for- 
get the  bad.  To-day  is  our  time  to  live,  and, 
as  compared  with  the  past,  I  am  glad  of  it. 

u  Our  nation  is  an  urn  that  holds  all  the 
tears  of  the  people  or  a  library  that  holds  the 
thoughts  upon  which  the  centuries  have  placed 
their  approving  seal." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

EXPERIENCE   THE  BEST   TEACHER. 

"  He  who  heeds  not  experience,  tell  him 
The  strongest  of  minds  can  but  trifles  achieve  ; 

The  weakest  that  draws  from  the  mine  will  excel  him  ; 
The  wealth  of  mankind  is  the  wisdom  they  leave." 

JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILY. 

pvANIEL  WEBSTER  said,  substantially: 
LJ  "The  evils  of  a  debased  coin,  or  a  de- 
pressed and  falling  public  credit,  is  more 
dangerous  than  war.  They  insinuate  them- 
selves in  the  shape  of  facilities,  accommoda- 
tion and  relief.  They  hold  out  the  most 
fallacious  hope  of  an  easy  payment  of  debts. " 
Our  free  silver  friends  urge  that  free  coinage 
would  make  our  debts  easy  to  pay.  There  is 
no  doubt  but  it  would  reduce  them  about  one- 
half,  and  this  is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments 
against  it.  Were  these  debts  contracted  when 
dollars  were  only  worth  about  fifty  cents,  as 
they  would  be  under  free  coinage  ?  Are  there 
any  debts  due  to-day,  or  in  the  future,  con- 
tracted before  silver  was  demonetized  ?  No. 
Then  it  would  be  repudiation,  and  when  our 


78  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

people  understand  it  as  such  they  will  not  sanc- 
tion it  with  their  franchises  ;  but  some  of  the 
leaders  of  this  movement  only  look  for  what 
they  think  would  be  personal  financial  ad- 
vancement to  them. 

"  Not  only  do  our  times  need  lessons  in  com- 
mon honesty,  but  lessons  in  friendship ;  for, 
while  honesty  may  move  somewhat  the  heart, 
friendship  will  arouse  to  a  real  heroism.  Hon- 
esty will  help  a  man  pay  his  debts,  but  divine 
friendship  for  his  fellowman  will  make  the 
payment  of  the  last  dollar  a  thing  infinitely 
glorious  to  be  done." 

In  1792  our  statesmen  established  a  standard 
of  money,  and  in  doing  so  they  used  the  best 
knowledge  and  experience  at  their  command. 
The  history  of  money  prior  to  that  time  fur- 
nished but  little  guide,  as  all  monetary  systems 
had  been  somewhat  experimental  and  unsatis- 
factory. 

The  early  settlers  had  no  medium  of  ex- 
change and  so  were  compelled  to  trade  com- 
modities. The  Indians  used  wampum  as  a 
medium  of  exchange.  The  money  most  familiar 
to  the  people  then,  was  a  Spanish  coin,  the 
silver  " milled"  dollar.  So  our  representatives 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  79 

established  their  values  by  this  and  said  that 
our  silver  dollar  should  contain  371^  grains  of 
pure  silver  and  that  the  gold  dollar  should 
contain  24f  grains  pure  gold.  They  said  it  in 
this  way,  that  the  eagle,  which  was  rated  as 
ten  dollars,  shall  contain  247|-  grains.  The 
reason  of  their  not  specifying  and  coining 
the  gold  dollar  was  because  of  its  diminutive 
size.  It  was  coined  later,  but  on  account  of  its 
size  its  coinage  was  discontinued. 

Some  of  the  "  silver  mine  agents,"  in  trying 
to  appeal  to  sentiment  and  our  good  old 
fathers,  make  a  play  upon  words  to  establish 
the  unit  as  silver  because  the  gold  dollar  was 
not  expressly  mentioned.  There  was  no  legal 
tender  value  added  to  these  coins ;  they  were 
supposed  to  be  worth  intrinsically  just  what 
they  represented.  Their  ratio  was  based  as  15 
to  1  on  the  values  of  these  metals  in  the, world 
at  that  time,  but  what  was  the  result  ?  It  was 
soon  found  that  gold  had  been  undervalued 
and  it  demonetized  itself,  was  hoarded  or  sold 
where  its  value  could  be  realized.  After  1812 
practically  no  gold  was  circulated.  Gold  said  : 
"  What  has  the  law  got  to  do  with  me  "  and 
took  itself  out  of  the  country.  From  that 


80  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

time  until  1834  we  had  silver  monometallism. 
In  1834  our  Congress  attempted  to  correct  the 
mistake  made  by  our  forefathers  by  changing 
the  ratio  to  16  to  1.  Then  silver  left  us 
because  it  was  undervalued.  There  were  but 
few,  and  we  might  say  no  silver  dollars  in  cir 
culation  in  1873.  They  had  been  hoarded  or 
melted  and  sold  at  their  bullion  value.  At  that 
date  a  silver  dollar,  as  measured  by  gold,  was 
worth  over  $1.03.  In  other  words,  the  bullion 
in  the  silver  dollar  would  buy  over  yf^  more 
than  the  bullion  in  the  gold  dollar.  There  was 
but  little  silver  in  circulation  after  the  Act  of 
1834,  and  practically  none  after  1838  until  the 
Bland- Allison  Act  of  1878. 

The  subsidiary  coins  were  found  to  be  worth 
more  melted  than  stamped,  so  they  left  us.  In 
1853  Congress  reduced  the  size  of  these  pieces 
and  made  them  legal  tender  for  sums  not  ex- 
ceeding five  dollars,  and  they  stayed  with  us, 
not  as  primary  money,  but  solely  on  account 
of  their  legal  tender  values. 

Some  of  our  "  silver  wheeled  "  orators  and 
writers  attempt  to  prove  that  the  silver  dollar 
was  the  standard  unit  of  value  because  the 
size  of  the  gold  dollar  was  reduced,  as  one  of 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  81 

the  experiments  to  see  if  gold  and  silver  could 
not  be  made  to  "  walk  together/'  but  this  was 
riot  the  reason  why  it  was  done  in  that  way. 
If  the  size  of  the  silver  dollar  had  been  in- 
creased, the  people  would  have  found  fault 
with  its  weight  more  than  they  do  now,  and 
now  they  will  not  have  it  if  they  can  get 
paper  or  gold.  Charles  Gerding,  a  real  estate 
man  of  New  York,  writes  from  Tennessee, 
June  18,  1895 : 

"  The  mines  and  furnaces  and  factories  are 
opening  and  men  are  going  to  work.  But  a 
curious  thing  about  it  is  the  stipulation  which 
working  people  are  making  that  they  shall  not 
be  paid  in  silver  coin.  They  are  insisting  that 
they  shall  be  paid  in  greenbacks  or  in  certifi- 
cates equivalent  to  gold.  I  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  finding  any  bills  South.  They 
seem  to  have  only  silver  money." 

The  silver  'dollar  was  never  made  the  sole 
unit  of  value.  He  who  states  that  it  was  es- 
tablished as  such  by  the  Act  of  1792  does  it  to 
play  upon  the  sympathies  of  the  people  and 
the  reverence  they  have  for  their  grandfathers; 
it  is  a  means  for  an  end. 

Correctly  speaking,  silver  demonetized  itself 


82  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

in  1834,  and  ifc  was  demonetized  by  law  in 
1873.  This  because  it  was  denied  the  right  to 
appear  as  primary  money ;  but  there  is  some 
discussion  among  economists  in  regard  to  the 
full  meaning  of  demonetization. 

However,  to  say  that  this  Act  had  any  effect 
upon  the  general  prices  of  things  is  false. 
There  were  only  about  $,000,000  silver  dollars 
coined  in  the  first  eighty -nine  years  of  our 
republic,  and  since  1873,  seventeen  years,  there 
has  been  over  397,000,000  full  legal  tender  silver 
dollars  coined,  or  almost  fifty  times  as  many 
as  in  all  the  previous  period. 

Where  silver  is  coined  on  government  ac- 
count, as  it  is  now  in  the  United  States  and  in 
nearly  all  civilized  countries  where  it  is  used, 
the  policy  of  the  governments  can  maintain  its 
value  by  agreeing  to  redeem  it,  but  when 
coined  on  individual  account,  the  government 
would  not  be  obligated  to  do  so,  neither  could 
it.  The  purchase  clause  of  the  Sherman  law, 
which  was  only  a  step  towards  free  silver,  came 
near  bankrupting  our  Government,  and  would 
have  done  so  if  it  had  not  been  repealed  ;  we 
are  not  over  the  effects  of  it  yet,  nor  will  we 
be  for  some  time.  It  has  driven  our  gold  out 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  83 

of  the  country,  and  we  must  do  something  to 
restore  confidence  and  get  it  back  through  the 
natural  channels. 

Jefferson  once  stopped  the  coinage  of 
silver  dollars,  and  history  does  not  record 
that  prices  went  down  or  that  by  so  doing 
he  committed  any  "  crime."  Who  shall 
say  that  the  increased  supply  of  silver  is  not 
the  cause  for  its  low  price,  when  from  1865  to 
1877  the  product  of  silver  in  the  United  States 
was  $320,000,000  from  1878  to  1891  ;  the  prod- 
uct was  $735,000,000,  more  than  twice  as 
much  in  the  latter  as  in  the  former  period.  It 
is  asserted  that  the  cause  of  our  reduced  prices 
is  the  result  of  demonetization  of  silver  by  sev- 
eral countries ;  in  fact,  nearly  all  civilized  na- 
tions have  demonetized  silver,  yet  we  are  told 
we  can  alone  restore  these  values  by  independ- 
ent action.  Can  we  afford  to  try  the  experi- 
ment ? 

At  the  very  threshold  we  are  confronted 
with  a  fact  that  admonishes  us  of  the  dangers 
of  hasty  conclusions.  The  quality  of  our 
money  is  of  more  importance  than  the  quan^ 
tity. 

"Our  nation  arose  out  of  reasoned  thought. 


84  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

Its  Franklins,  Hamiltons  and  Washingtons 
were  not  novelists.  They  made  the  happiness 
of  Americans  and  mankind  their  master  study. 
They  unveiled  human  rights.  As  our  nation 
arose  out  of  such  a  study,  so  by  such  a  study 
it  must  be  carried  onward.  The  nation  stands 
to-day  impeded  by  its  unsolved  problems." 


TESTED  BY  FIRE. 


"Uncle  Seth,"  the  old  miser  who 
hid  his  money  in  the  barn  in  a  nail 
keg,  understands  free  coinage.  He 
has  had  experience.  The  barn 
burned.  He  had  one  hundred  dollars 
in  gold  and  one  hundred  dollars  in 
silver ;  all  was  melted.  For  the 
gold  he  received  one  hundred 
dollars  and  for  the  silver  less  than 
sixty  dollars.  16  to  1  doesn't  in- 
terest him.  He  wants  the  STAND- 
ARD COIN,  or  at  least  the  two 
metals  coined  at  their  relative 
commercial  values. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WILLIAM  KIEFT'S   EXPERIMENT  WITH  FREE 
COINAGE. 

OUE  money  has  been  remarkably  good  for  a 
great  many  years.  ' '  Every  dollar's  worth 
of  currency  has  been  able  to  hold  up  its  head 
and  say,  'I  know  that  my  redeemer  liveth." 
Notwithstanding  this,  there  is  a  class  of 
individuals  who  contend  that  it  only  requires 
the  Government's  stamp  to  make  money,  and 
that  we  ought  to  have  a  machine  in  Washing- 
ton to  grind  it  out  as  fast  as  we  want  it. 

The  thought  is  absurd.  You  cannot  legis- 
late money  into  existence  any  more  than  you 
can  legislate  a  day's  work  into  existence  or 
build  a  mountain  by  legislation. 

It  comes  right  back  to  the  point  that  there 
isn't  anything  but  labor.  We  are  simply  one 
of  the  countries  of  the  world.  We  have  com- 
mercial relations  with  other  countries.  We 
must  make  money  that  will  pass  as  an  ex- 
change— a  measure  of  value  between  nations. 


#6  GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

Some  argue  that  if  Uncle  Sam  agrees  to  pay 
gold  he  must  have  it  all  on  hand  to  pay. 
Absurd  !  If  he  says  he  will  pay  gold  this  is  all 
the  whole  world  wants — they  know  him.  One 
dollar  will  redeem  many  dollars  at  different 
times.  They  will  not  all  be  presented  at  once. 
When  you  know  the  man  to  whom  you  have 
lent  money  can  pay,  you  are  not  anxious  for 
the  cash.  No  bank  keeps  all  of  its  deposits  on 
hand  ;  notwithstanding  this,  they  are  all  sub- 
ject to  check.  Confidence  is  the  main  thing, 
and  this  comes  from  a  sound  policy. 

Many  of  the  advocates  of  cheap  money  think 
that  if  the  Government  made  more  money  they 
would  have  more.  These  people  do  not  under- 
stand the  first  principle  of  political  economy. 

Every  dollar  a  man  has  as  his  own  he  must 
get  by  the  "  sweat  of  his  brow."  It  is  so  in- 
tended. This  principle  started  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  and  will  continue  until  the  end  of  the 
world.  Our  Western  neighbors  want  silver 
because  they  produce  it  in  large  quantities.  It 
is  a  great  industry  of  theirs.  It  is  a  "  local 
issue "  with  them,  but  if  it  were  settled  by  a 
commission  or  court  with  the  whole  United 
States  before  them,  we  believe  they  would 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  87 

settle  it  for  the  best  interests  of  the  United 
States  as  a  whole,  regardless  of  any  locality  or 
gection. 

At  a  recent  bankers'  convention  in  Chicago, 
a  banker  from  a  Western  State  was  a  great 
advocate  of  silver,  and  in  the  course  of  his  re- 
marks he  stated  that  if  silver  were  not  re- 
monetized  it  would  ruin  a  large  industry  in 
his  section  of  the  country.  He  was  answered 
by  a  banker  from  Michigan,  who  said  :  "  My 
State  produces  more  copper  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Union.  I  would  not  advocate 
coining  it  all  into  pennies  simply  to  build  up 
the  industry  in  my  own  State  at  the  expense 
of  the  whole  country." 

Free  coinage  was  an  early  experiment  in  this 
country  and  an  early  failure.  It  dates  from 
the  Dutch  settlements  in  New  York,  about 
1626. 

William  Kief t,  the  Governor  of  New  Amster- 
dam, conceived  the  project  of  making  wampum 
the  coin  of  the  province,  thinking  to  suppress 
poverty  and  increase  wealth.  This  class  of 
thing  (shells,  beads,  etc.)  had  an  intrinsic  valuo 
with  the  Indians.  They  used  them  to  orna- 
ment their  dress,  but  with  the  settlers  "  it  hacjl 


88  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

no  more  intrinsic  value  than  those  rags  which 
form  the  paper  currency  of  modern  days." 
Kief  t  paid  no  attention  to  this.  He  made  it  the 
currency  of  the  province  for  all  government 
and  private  debts. 

"For  a  time  affairs  went  on  swimmingly, 
money  became  as  plentiful  as  in  the  modern 
days  of  paper  currency,  and,  to  use  the  popular 
phrase,  'a  wonderful  impetus  was  given  to 
prosperity."  Yankee  traders  bought  of  the 
unsuspecting  Dutchmen  everything  of  value 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  and  paid  them 
their  own  price  in  wampum.  If  the  latter 
bought  anything  of  the  Yankees  they  demanded 
the  money  of  the  world,  gold  or  silver.  They 
would  not  take  shells  or  beads. 

The  Yankees  soon  established  a  mint  of  their 
own  at  Oyster  Bay,  where  shells  were  plenti- 
ful, and,  "With  this  they  deluged  the  prov- 
ince, carrying  off  in  exchange  all  the  gold  and 
silver,  the  Dutch  herrings  and  the  Dutch 
cheeses.  Thus  early  did  the  knowing  men  of 
the  East  manifest  their  skill  in  bargaining  the 
new  Amsterdamers  out  of  the  oyster  and  leav- 
ing them  the  shell." 

Do  our  Western  friends  think  to  make  us 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  89 

take  their  wampum  ?  I  fear  there  are  too 
many  "Yankee"  voters  in  this  country. 

Money  is  only  a  convenient  measure  of 
value.  It  does  not  add  anything  to  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  It  only  represents  labor,  and 
is  actually  worth  only  what  it  costs  to  get  the 
material  and  to  produce  it.  If  we  were  to 
manufacture  and  use  cheap  money,  would  not 
the  "  Yankees "  of  other  countries  demand 
their  pay  for  everything  in  gold  and  pay  us  for 
everything  in  their  own  cheap  money  ?  Hasn't 
this  always  been  our  experience  ?  "  It  is  sim- 
ply a  law  as  certain  as  the  Jaws  of  gravity." 
The  good  money  would  go,  the  poor  money 
would  come.  What  we  want  is  the  confidence 
of  the  whole  world  and  more  confidence  in 
each  other. 

I  shall  be  in  favor  of  free  coinage  of  wheat 
long  before  I  am  in  favor  of  free  coinage  of  sil- 
ver. 

Every  voter  should  work  for  "the  greatest 
good  for  the  greatest  number. 

There  are  more  people  who  raise  wheat  than 
there  are  who  raise  silver. 

The  office  of  wheat  is  to  sustain  life,  and  it 
never  depreciates  in  value,  since  it  will  always 


90  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

make  the  same  quantity  of  the  "staff  of 
life." 

The  office  of  money  is  its  purchasing  power, 
and  I  fear  that  a  free  coinage  of  silver  would 
sadly  limit  its  purchasing  power. 

The  farmer  takes  his  wheat  to  the  mill  and 
exchang  j  it  for  flour,  and  only  gets  just  what 
it  will  make,  less  the  price  of  grinding. 

Free  coinage  of  silver  would  mean  that  the 
miner  could  take  his  bullion  to  the  mint  and 
exchange  it  for  money.  According  to  the 
present  value,  for  about  fifty  cents'  worth  of 
silver  he  would  receive  one  dollar's  worth  of 
money,  made  so  by  the  Government's  stamp. 
Can  the  Government  afford  to  do  this  for 
simply  a  small  section  of  the  country  ?  Would 
this  not  be  quite  partial  to  the  few  at  the 
expense  of  the  many  ?  Again,  it  would  throw 
these  dishonest  fifty-cent  dollars  into  circula- 
tion, and  if  the  same  farmer  had  wheat  to  sell 
he  would  be  obliged  to  accept  them  in  payment 
therefor.  It  seems  strange  that  anyone  should 
be  so  blinded  by  his  own  personal  interests  as 
to  favor  such  a  money.  * 

It  would  only  be  a  short  time  until  the  pur- 


GOLD   OR    SILVER.  91 

chasing  power  of  this  money  would  be  reduced 
one-half. 

This  would  reduce  wages,  because  the  cheap 
dollars  would  have  less  purchasing  power. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  SENATOR  SHERMAN'S  SPEECH. 

"The  experience  of  every  nation  in  the  world  proves  that 
the  cheaper  money  will  fill  the  channels  of  circulation,  and 
the  money  of  higher  value  will  be  hoarded  or  exported.  This 
is  a  rule  as  universal  as  the  movement  of  the  earth  around  the 
sun,  or  the  flow  of  the  tides  of  the  ocean.  No  one  will  pay 
gold  when  silver,  one-half  in  commercial  value,  can  be  paid 
instead.  The  amount  of  silver  in  sight  in  the  world  is  stated 
at3, 000, 000, 000 ounces,  each  ounce  containing  480  grains.  The 
annual  production  of  silver  in  the  world  is  about  161,000,000 
ounces,  the  ^commercial  value  of  which  is  $125,000,000,  but 
the  coinage  value  at  the  present  ratio  is  now  about  $225,- 
000,000. 

"The  vast  hoard  of  silver  will  be  invited  to  the  United 
States  in  the  hope  to  obtain  more  for  it  than  its  market  value. 
What  benefit  will  this  radical  change  in  our  coinage  laws,  if 
made,  confer  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  ?  It  is 
said  that  it  will  double  the  price  of  all  our  productions.  So 
it  would  nominally,  but  will  it  not  also  double  the  price  of 
all  you  h-»e  to  buy  ?" 

The  laborer  would  have  to  take  his  chances 
upon  getting  his  wages  raised. 

"  What  would  be  the  inevitable  result  of  the  free  coinage 
of  silver  now,  when  the  silver  in  the  dollar  is  worth  only  fifty 
cents  ?  Does  any  man  need  to  be  told  that  it  will  be  worth 
only  what  it  cost  ?  By  carefully  limiting  the  amount  of  silver 
coins  and  coining  only  on  Government  account  we  can  main, 
tain  silver  coins  at  par  with  gold  coins,  just  as  we  keep  paper 


92  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

money  by  a  promise  to  receive  it  as  money,  and  redeem  it  in 
gold  if  demanded.  That  is  what  we  did  with  nearly  $400,- 
000,000  of  paper  money  in  1879.  We  accumulated  a  fund 
of  gold  ;  we  promised  to  pay  the  notes  in  coin.  The  notes 
had  been  depreciated  during  and  after  the  war.  We  lifted 
them  up  by  resumption  in  January,  1879,  and  from  that  day 
to  this  they  hare  been  of  equal  value  with  gold  coin  in  any 
market  of  the  world. 

"We  have  pledged  the  faith  of  the  United  States  that  all 
forms  of  money  shall  be  kept  equal  to  each  other.  Thus  far 
we  have  been  able  to  maintain  that  pledge.  Is  it  not  a  matter 
of  pride  to  every  American  that  our  courage  was  demon- 
strated in  war  ;  that  our  generosity  and  moderation  were  dis- 
played in  peace  ;  that  our  financial  honor  is  untarnished  and 
that  our  credit  is  equal  to  that  of  any  nation  in  the  world  ? 

"The  free  coinage  of  silver  will  break  down  all  this.  The 
Government  will  lose  all  control  over  the  amount  of  money 
to  be  issued.  This  will  depend  upon  the  greed  of  bankers 
and  bullion  dealers.  There  will  be  no  limit  upon  it  except 
the  vast  quantity  of  silver  in  the  world.  All  this  will  seek 
our  market  as  long  as  our  silver  dollar  is  worth  more  than  the 
bullion  in  it.  The  result  is  inevitable,  as  certain  as  the  law  of 
gravitation.  The  purchasing  power  of  the  silver  dollar  with 
coinage  free  will  be  the  market  value  of  the  silver  bullion. 
No  gold  will  be  taken  to  the  mint  or  be  paid  into  the  Treas- 
ury. All  we  have  will  be  withdrawn  and  the  United  States 
will  stand  with  China,  Japan,  India,  Mexico  and  South 
America,  as  silver  states,  and  be  detached  from  the  great 
civilized  nations  of  Europe  who  still  maintain  the  gold 
standard. 

"It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  demonetization  of  silver 
caused  the  decline  of  silver  bullion.  This  is  not  true.  Silver 
bullion  declined  because  the  production  in  silver  enormously 
increased,  not  only  in  this,  but  in  other  countries,  I  have  a 
table  before  me  which  shows  that  prior  to  1845  there  was  no 
silver  produced  in  the  United  States.  From  1845  to  1860  the 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  92 

amount  was  about  $50,000  a  year.  In  1861  the  amount  pro- 
duced was  $2,000,000.  This  increased  year  by  year  until  the 
amount  of  silver  produced  in  the  United  States  reached  in 
1892  the  sum  of  $82,101,000. 

"It  is  this  enormous  production  that  has  caused  the  fall  in 
the  market  value  of  silver — precisely  the  same  causes  that 
have  reduced  the  value  of  iron,  copper  and  nickel.  It  is  this 
large  increase  in  the  quantity  of  silver  produced  and  this  fall 
in  the  value  of  silver  that  has  led  to  the  suspension  of  silver 
coinage  among  all  the  nations  of  Europe.  Any  attempt  by 
the  United  States  alone  to  maintain  its  value  in  view  of  this 
yast  production  would  be  the  height  of  folly  and  madness." 


CHAPTER  X. 

YUNG   LEE   AND   FREE   COINAGE. 

IN  practice  Yung  Lee  understands  the 
question.  The  danger  lies  in  its  simplicity. 
If  this  "  celestial"  should  come  here  and  earn 
money  and  be  paid  in  two  kinds,  one  that  the 
supply  and  demand  made  worth  more  than 
the  other,  he  would  pay  all  American  obliga- 
tions with  the  cheaper  money  and  carry  the 
other  home.  Everybody  would  keep  the  bet- 
ter money  and  spend  the  poorer.  Thus,  one 
would  soon  be  demonetized,  not  by  statutes, 
but  by  natural  laws — by  the  Gresham  law  ;  by 
a  law  that  is  as  old  as  the  world  itself — one 
that  has  always  operated  not  only  in  money 
matters,  but  in  other  things  as  well,  even  in 
barter  trades.  No  one  would  trade  two  bush- 
els of  wheat  worth  one  dollar  and  a  half  for  a 
pair  of  shoes  if  two  bushels  of  corn  worth 
eighty  cents  would  buy  the  same  shoes.  The 
boys  who  play  marbles  in  the  streets,  in  prac- 
tice; understand  this  question,  for  when  they 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  95 

play  for  "keeps,"  they  always  play  with  their 
cheap  marbles. 

This  subject  seems  as  clear  to  me  as  the 
simplest  mathematical  problem.  All  will 
agree  that  five  times  five  are  twenty-five  ;  all 
will  agree  that  supply  and  demand  makes 
prices  on  commodities  ;  all  will  agree  that  gold 
and  silver  before  being  coined  are  but  com- 
modities, worth  only  what  they  will  bring  by 
weight ;  all  will  agree  that  it  is  optional  with 
the  owners  of  such  bullion  whether  they  coin 
it  or  not.  Will  they  coin  a  metal  that  is 
worth  more  by  weight,  measured  by  the  other, 
into  money,  or  will  they  sell  it  by  weight,  or 
keep  it — hoard  it  ?  Will  it  not  at  once  dis- 
appear from  circulation  ?  This  has  always 
been  the  case,  and  always  will  be.  We  have 
always  had  monometallism  in  practice,  and 
always  will. 

Because  something  is  wrong  don't  allow 
interested  people  to  tell  you  it  is  caused  by 
demonetization  of  silver.  Study  the  question 
and  you  cannot  help  arriving  at  the  true 
causes.  We  must  understand  the  subjects 
that  demand  our  franchises  or  we  have  no 
moral  right  to  vote  upon  them.  Every  one 


96  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

has  a  duty  to  perform.  You  say  free  silver 
will  not  win  this  fall.  I  guess  you  are  right, 
but  it  is  an  unknown  quantity  and  should  be 
represented  by  "  x."  We  will  know  better 
after  the  votes  are  counted,  and  then  if  the 
gold  standard  wins  simply  by  a  small  majority 
the  country  will  not  recover,  and  we  will  see  a 
worse  business  depression  than  we  have  ever 
witnessed.  The  present  troubles  will  be  as  a 
zephyr  to  a  cyclone.  Let  the  world  see  that 
there  is  a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  the 
4 '  white  metal"  and  they  will  call  for  what 
gold  we  have  and  then  let  us  entirely  alone. 
Ah  !  but  our  independent  friend  says  they 
will  have  to  do  business  with  us.  "  We  are 
the  people/'  Yes,  they  will  in  their  way  ;  they 
will  pay  us  for  everything  in  our  own  cheap 
money  and  demand  their  pay  in  gold.  They 
will  pay  us  in  "  wampum  "  and  demand  money 
for  their  goods. 

The  tariff  has  but  little  to  do  with  the  pres- 
ent troubles  as  compared  with  this  great  issue. 
The  "  Sherman  law  "  shows  the  student  clearly 
what  a  more  liberal  free  silver  policy  would  do. 

For  ten  years  preceding  the  passage  of  the 
"  Sherman  law  "  there  was  only  demanded  of 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  97 

the  United  States  Treasury  in  exchange 
for  paper  currency  about  $20,000,000  in 
gold  ;  during  the  four  years  the  law  was  in 
force  there  was  over  $260,000,000  with- 
drawn and  over  $500,000,000  of  gold  left 
the  country  entirely.  Does  anyone  want  a 
more  forcible  illustration.  Do  not  all  the 
prominent  financiers  of  the  world  agree  upon 
this  subject  ?  Is  this  not  the  reason  the  gold 
was  withdrawn?  Whose  judgment  shall  we 
take  in  matters  of  this  kind  ?  If  we  had  a 
case  in  court  would  we  not  employ  a  lawyer, 
if  sick  a  doctor,  etc.  ? 

What  we  want  is  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of 
confidence  and  a  standard  to  rate  values  that 
is  accepted  by  the  whole  world.  When  our 
Government  announced  it  would  resume  spe- 
cie payment,  but  few  availed  themselves  of 
the  opportunity,  because  there  was  no  mistake 
about  the  Government's  position  upon  this 
question.  This  silver  craze  should  be  voted 
"out,"  so  there  would  be  no  mistake  about  it. 

A  gold  standard  should  be  voted  "in,"  so 
there  could  be  no  mistake  about  that.  Our 
credit  as  a  nation  should  stand  untarnished. 

"Credit  has  done  more,  a  thousand  times 


98  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

more,  to  enrich  nations  than  has  all  the  mines 
of  the  world." 

Andrew  Carnegie,  in  the  North  American 
Review,  draws  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  state  of 
the  country  during  the  past  five  years  in  con- 
trast with  its  state  during  the  previous  ten 
years.  The  change  he  attributes  to  legisla- 
tion, and  this  he  charges  without  hesitation  to 
the  Eepublican  party.  After  reciting  the  sil- 
ver legislation  of  1878  and  1890,  he  says  : 

"  This  is  a  matter  above  party.  Let  us  not 
hesitate,  therefore,  to  place  the  blame  where  it 
belongs,  upon  our  own  party,  the  Republicans. 
It  was  the  Republican  party  that  poisoned  the 
currency  of  the  nation.  It  was  the  Repub- 
lican party  that  doubled  the  amount  of  poison, 
which  speedily  produced  its  baneful  effect.  It 
threatened  the  capital  of  the  world  abroad  and 
it  sapped  the  roots  of  confidence  at  home ; 
hence  the  stagnation  of  business ;  hence  that 
contrast  between  1880  and  1890  and  1890  and 
1900. 

.  The  poison  was  there  before  1890  in  small 
doses,  but  such  was  the  strength  of  the  patient 
that  he  continued  to  perform  his  usual  func- 
tions for  a  long  time  after  the  poison  had 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  99 

entered  his  system.  His  vitality,  nevertheless, 
was  sapped." 

Mr.  Carnegie  thinks  that  the  " violent" 
change  in  the  tariff  hastened  and  aggravated 
the  mischief.  Here  are  his  closing  words  : 

"We  may  collect  all  the  surplus  revenue 
imaginable ;  may  legislate  in  any  and  all  di- 
rections upon  other  than  the  financial  *ques- 
tion,  and  all  will  be  in  vain.  Capital  from 
abroad  will  continue  to  avoid  us,  and  capital 
at  home  remain  paralyzed.  No  new  enter- 
prises will  be  undertaken,  labor  will  be  poorly 
employed,  wages  fall,  depression  continue, 
with  panic  ever  looming  in  the  distance.  As 
in  1891,  and  again  in  1893,  I  predicted  corning 
disaster,  so  to-day,  in  1896, 1  do  not  hesitate  to 
foretell  its  continuance.  Until  parties  cease 
to  threaten  the  gold  standard,  national  pros- 
perity must  remain  a  thing  of  the  past." 

EXTRACTS  FROM  C.  W.  FAIRBANKS'   SPEECH. 

No  true  American  has  ever  been  unfriendly 
to  the  proper  use  of  silver.  But  he  favors  its 
use  under  such  provisions  and  safeguards  as 
shall  not  imperil  our  present  National  stand- 
ard. 


100  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

The  policy  of  all  good  financiers  is  to  retain 
both  gold  and  silver  as  a  part  of  our  circu- 
lating medium,  while  the  policy  of  free  coin- 
age of  silver  leads  to  certain  silver  mono- 
metallism. It  is  an  immutable  law  that  two 
moneys  of  unequal  value  will  not  circulate 
together,  and  that  the  one  of  less  coinage 
value  always  drives  out  the  other. 

Those  who  profess  to  believe  that  this  Gov- 
ernment, independently  of  the  other  great 
commercial  powers,  should  open  its  mints  to 
the  free  and  independent  coinage  of  silver  at  a 
ratio  of  16  to  1,  when  the  commercial  ratio 
in  all  the  great  markets  is  30  to  1,  and  at  the 
same  time  not  drive  every  dollar  of  gold  out  of 
circulation,  but  deceive  themselves. 

Great  and  splendid  and  powerful  as  our 
Government  is,  it  cannot  accomplish  the  im- 
possible. It  cannot  create  value.  It  has  not 
the  alchemist's  subtle  art  of  transmuting  un- 
limited silver  into  gold,  nor  can  it,  by  omnipo- 
tent fiat,  make  fifty  cents  worth  one  hundred 
cents. 

As  well  undertake  by  a  resolution  of  Con- 
gress to  suspend  the  law  of  gravitation  as 
attempt  to  compel  an  unlimited  number  of 


GOLD   OR   SILVER. 


101 


fifty-cent  dollars  to  circulate  with  100-cent 
dollars  at  a  parity  with  each  other.  An  at- 
tempt to  Compel  unlimited  dollars  of  such  un- 
equal Value  to  circulate  at  a  parity  is  bad  in 
morals,  and  is  vicious  in  policy. 

Sound  thinkers  upon  the  great  question  of 
currency  know  from  the  beginning  of  the  ex- 
periment how  miserable  and  certain  it  would 
fail.  The  commerce  of  the  country  would  be 
again  thrown  upon  the  sea  of  uncertainty  and 
the  specter  of  want  would  continue  to  haunt 
us  for  years  to  come. 

Upon  opening  our  mints  to  the  independent 
free  coinage  of  silver,  foreign  credits  would  be 
withdrawn  and  domestic  credits  would  be 
greatly  curtailed.  More  than  this,  there 
would  be  certain  and  sudden  contraction  of 
our  currency  by  the  expulsion  of  $620,000,000 
of  gold,  and  our  paper  and  silver  currency 
would  instantly  and  greatly  depreciate  in  pur- 
chasing power. 

But  one  result  would  follow  this  :  Enter- 
prise would  be  further  embarrassed,  business 
demoralization  would  be  increased,  and  still 
further  and  serious  injury  would  be  inflicted 
upon  the  laborers,  the  farmers,  the  merchants 


102  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

and  all  those  whose  welfare  depends  upon  a 
wholesome  commerce. 

A  change  from  the  present  standard  to  the 
low  silver  standard  would  cut  down  the  recom- 
pense of  labor,  reduce  the  value  of  the  savings 
in  savings  banks  and  building  and  loan  asso- 
ciations, salaries  and  incomes  would  shrink, 
pensions  would  be  cut  in  two,  the  beneficiaries 
of  life  insurance  would  suffer;  in  short,  the 
injury  would  be  so  universal  and  far-reaching 
that  a  radical  change  can  be  contemplated 
only  with  the  gravest  apprehension. 

A  sound  currency  is  one  of  the  essential  in- 
struments in  developing  our  commerce.  It 
should  be.  the  purpose  of  every  true  American 
not  only  to  develop  our  domestic  trade,  but  to 
extend  our  commerce  into  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth. 

We  should  not  begin  our  contest  for  com- 
mercial supremacy  by  destroying  our  currency 
standard.  All  the  leading  powers  with  which 
we  must  compete  suspended  the  free  coinage 
of  silver  when  the  increased  production  of 
silver  forced  the  commercial  ratio  above  the 
coinage  ratio  to  gold.  Shall  we  ignore  their 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  103 

ripened  experience  ?  Shall  we  attempt  what 
they  have  found  utterly  impossible  ?  Shall  it 
be  said  that  our  standard  is  below  theirs  ?  You 
cannot  build  prosperity  upon  a  debased  or 
fluctuating  currency;  as  well  undertake  to 
build  upon  the  changing  sands  of  the  sea. 

A  sound  currency  defrauds  no  one.  It  is 
good  alike  in  the  hands  of  the  employe  and 
employer,  the  laborer  and  capitalist.  Upon 
faith  in  its  worth,  its  stability,  we  go  forward 
planning  for  the  future.  The  capitalist  erects 
his  factories,  acquires  his  materials,  employes 
his  artisans,  mechanics  and  laborers.  He  is 
confident  that  his  margin  will  not  be  swept 
way  by  fluctuations  in  the  currency. 

The  laborer  knows  that  the  money  earned  by 
his  toil  is  as  honest  as  his  labor,  and  that  it  is 
of  unquestioned  purchasing  power.  He  like- 
wise knows  that  it  requires  as  much  labor  to 
earn  a  poor  dollar  as  it  does  a  good  one  ;  and  he 
also  knows  that  if  poor  money  is  abroad  it 
surely  finds  its  way  into  his  pocket. 

We  protest  against  lowering  our  standard  of 
commercial  honor.  We  stand  against  the 
attempt  to  degrade  our  currency  to  the  low 


104  GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

level  of  Mexico,  India,  China  and  Japan.  The 
present  high  standard  of  our  currency,  our 
labor  and  our  flag  will  be  sacredly  protected 
and  preserved  by  the  American  voters. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PRIMARY  MONEY  PURELY  MERCHANDISE. 

Wheat  and  Corn  as  Money. 

SO  much  is  said  about  our  forefathers'  views 
upon  this  subject,  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
examine  some  of  the  things  they  wrote  or  said. 
The  following  were  Jefferson's  views  : 

"The  proportion  between  the  values  of  gold 
and  silver  is  a  mercantile  problem  altogether. 
It  would  be  inaccurate  to  fix  it  by  the  popular 
exchange  of  a  half  Joe  for  eight  dollars,  a 
Louis  for  four  French  crowns,  of  five  Louis 
for  twenty-three  dollars.  The  first  of  these 
would  be  to  adopt  the  Spanish  proportion  be- 
tween gold  and  silver  ;  the  second,  the  French ; 
the  third,  a  mere  popular  barter,  where  con- 
venience is  consulted  more  than  accuracy. 
The  legal  proportion  in  Spain  is  16  for  1 ;  in 
England,  15J  for  1 ;  in  France,  15  for  1.  The 
Spaniards  and  English  are  found  in  experience 
to  retain  an  over-proportion  of  gold  coins  arid 
to  lose  their  silver.  The  French  have  a 


106  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

greater  proportion  of  silver.  The  difference  at 
market  has  been  on  the  decrease.  The  Fi- 
nancier states  it  at  present  as  at  14£  for  1. 
Just  principles  will  lead  us  to  disregard  legal 
proportions  altogether,  to  inquire  into  the 
market  price  of  gold  in  the  several  countries 
with  which  we  shall  principally  be  connected 
in  commerce,  and  to  take  an  average  from 
them.  Perhaps  we  might  with  safety  lean  to 
a  proportion  somewhat  above  par  for  gold, 
considering  our  neighborhood  and  commerce 
with  the  sources  of  the  coins  and  the  tendency 
which  the  high  price  of  gold  in  Spain  has  to 
draw  thither  all  that  of  their  mines,  leaving 
silver  principally  for  our  and  other  markets. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  15  for  1  may  be  found 
an  eligible  proportion.  I  state  it,  however,  as 
a  conjecture  only.  .  .  . 

"I  find  ,  .  .  that  the  present  market 
price  of  gold  and  silver  is  in  England  15.5  for 
1 ;  in  Russia,  15  ;  in  Holland,  14.75  ;  in  Savoy, 
14.6  ;  in  France,  14.42  ;  in  Spain,  .14. 3  ;  in  Ger- 
many, 14.155,  the  average  of  which  is  14.675. 
.  .  .  I  would  still  incline  to  give  a  little 
more  than  market  price  for  gold,  because  of  its 
superior  convenience  for  transportation." 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  107 

"amilton  said :  "  There  is  scarcely  any  point 
in  the  economy  of  national  Affairs  of  greater 
moment  than  the  uniform  preservation  of  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  money  unit." 

These  men  did  not  think  they  could  by  leg- 
islation make  the  two  metals  of  equal  value. 
They  started  them  out  as  nearly  as  possible  at 
a  parity,  a  parity  made  then  by  their  true  com- 
mercial ratio  values,  made  by  supply  and 
demand  at  that  time.  They  did  not  go  far 
enough  to  see  that  a  varying  supply  of  either 
metal  would  change  its  commercial  value, 
neither  did  they  suppose  there  would  come 
such  a  difference  in  the  production.  These 
men  were  far-seeing,  but  did  they  ever  predict 
that  we  would  some  day  be  talking  between 
Chicago  and  New  York?  They  acted  upon 
the  experience  of  the  day  and  according  to 
their  best  judgment.  But  as  things  change, 
naturally,  we  must  change  our  artificial  laws 
to  correspond  with  their  requirements. 

To  make  a  comparison  that  can  be  easily 
understood,  suppose,  for  example,  the  United 
States  Government  should  build  large  ware- 
houses and  receive  from  all  the  farmers  their 
corn  and  wheat  for  storage,  and  issue  upon 


108  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

the  same  corn  and  wheat  certificates  at  a 
parity  established  to-day  by  the  market  value 
of  each  and  allow  these  certificates  to  pass  as 
money,  how  long  before  the  values  would 
fluctuate,  caused  by  the  supply  and  demand  ? 
How  long  would  these  certificates  maintain  the 
same  values  in  relation  to  each  other  that  they 
started  out  on  ?  To-day  wheat  is  worth  sev- 
enty-seven cents,  corn  fifty  cents.  Say,  for 
easy  comparison,  that  one  bushel  of  wheat 
was  worth  two  bushels  of  corn,  then  the  ratio 
would  be  as  one  to  two,  and  we  could  issue 
wheat  certificates  at  $1  per  bushel  and  corn 
certificates  at  fifty  cents  per  bushel.  But  an 
early  frost  or  some  accident  in  production 
might  render  the  value  of  corn  more  than 
wheat,  then  which  grain  would  go  to  the 
Government  warehouses  and  be  exchanged  for 
certificates  ?  Wheat  or  corn  could  be  used  in 
this  capacity  if  adopted  by  the  world,  but  both 
could  not  be  used  in  the  same  capacity  even  by 
the  whole  world,  because  the  market  value 
would  demonetize  one  or  the  other  as  often  as 
the  values  fluctuated. 

It  would  be  infinitely  more  fair  to  allow 
these  commodities  to  come  in  under  free  coin- 


GOLD   OR    SILVER.  109 

age  than  to  allow  silver  the  privilege,  because 
more  people  produce  them  than  produce  either 
of  the  two  metals  used.  Gold  and  silver  are 
commodities  and  nothing  more. 

That  gold  with  some  men  is  like  the  quartz 
rocks,  imbedded  in  flint,  does  not  detract  from 
its  peculiar  fitness  for  money  as  a  measure  of 
Talue,  but  rather  establishes  it.  That  it  fluc- 
tuates less  than  any  other  material  also  makes 
it  a  desirable  measure.  The  trouble  is  not 
with  the  gold,  but  with  the  hearts  of  some  of 
its  owners.  A  sound  policy  established  by  our 
Government  upon  this  point  will  relieve  this 
quartz  of  its  gems,  when  they  will  be  thrown 
into  circulation  in  search  of  more. 

"  Too  many  of  our  greatest  citizens  are 
now  wholly  occupied  in  taking  care  of  their 
wealth  " — distrust  has  caused  it,  "  These  men 
ought  to  fling  their  money  to  the  public 
then  their  hearts  would  follow  it." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   RESULTS  OF  FREE   COINAGE. 

' '  Silverites  "  rant  about  the  banker,  the 
1  monopolist  and  the  "  bloated  "  bondholder. 
If  free  silver  were  practical,  these  would  be  the 
first  who  would  want  it,  but  they  know  better  ; 
they  know  it  would  bankrupt  " Uncle  Sam" 
in  less  than  ten  days  after  a  candidate  was 
elected  upon  this  issue.  They  have  seen 
enough  of  hard  times.  No  capitalist  suffers 
more  in  hard  times  than  does  the  banker  ;  his 
dollars  are  idle  and  his  credits  shaky. 

The  theory  that  we  could  pay  our  debts 
easier  is  misleading.  The  bankers  owe  more 
than  any  class  ;  they  owe  all  their  depositors. 
But  you  say  their  discount  customers  owe 
them ;  this  is  true,  but  they  could  not  do  what 
the  bankers  could  who  have  the  ready  money. 
If  a  free-coinage  act  were  passed,  in  less  than  a 
week,  just  as  soori  as  possible,  they  would 
"hie"  all  their  bonds  and  securities  to  Wash- 
ington and  exchange  them  for  gold,  and  that 


'Don't  Kill  the  Goose  Chat  Cays 
the  Golden 


Sentiment  is  too  often  created  by  dema- 
gogues. You  will  doubtless  hear  from  their 
platform  how  the  rich  are  working  against  the 
poor  and  that  it  is  to  the  interest  of  Wall  Street 
and  the  bankers  to  make  and  keep  the  times 
hard.  Would  the  farmer  poison  the  soil  in  which 
he  sows  his  seed  ?  On  the  contrary,  he  would 
give  it  fertilizer.  Our  common  people  are  the 
gardens  that  grow  all  the  flowers  of  prosperity. 

It  is  especially  to  the  interest  of  the  capitalist 
that  the  country  be  prosperous.  Would  the 
money  power  "  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the  gold- 
en egg  "?  No,  it  must  have  prosperous  people 
to  whom  to  loan  its  money. 

Our  times  need  lessons  in  patriotism,  need 
patriots  and  statesmen,  not  politicians  and 
demagogues. 

A  DEMAGOGUE  IS  A  MAN 
WHO  USES  LANGUAGE  FREE. 
LY,  BUT  FACTS  CARELESSLY. 

What  would  it  profit  a  capitalist  if  he  had 
all  the  money  in  the  world,  but  no  bread  ? 


The  thoughtless  voter  says :  "Is  it  16  to  i  that  is  discussed  ? 
Well,  that  is  easy,  give  me  sixteen  silver  dollars,  then,  instead  of 
one  gold  dollar. 

If  we  could  rate  our  confidence  in  each  other  and  our  institu- 
tions, as  compared  with  our  money,  as  16  to  i,  it  would  do  more 
for  us  than  anything  else  could. 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  Ill 

for  silver  bullion,  this  they  would  have  coined 
and  pay  their  depositors  with  the  cheap  dollars. 
When  their  discount  customers,  the  very  ones 
who  haven't  the  ready  money  to  do  such  a 
thing,  attempted  to  change  their  securities 
into  gold  to  get  silver  the  gold  would  all  be 
gone— yes,  long  before,  and  over  the  doors  of 
the  United  States  Treasury  would  be  the  sign, 
' '  Gold  payment  suspended. "  All  would  make 
a  grand  rush  for  the  gold — the  foreigner,  "our 
enemy  who  lends  us  money,"  and  everybody 
else.  You  saw  what  a  rush  with  demand 
paper  could  do  with  financial  institutions  in 
1893.  Do  you  want  this  ?  Or  do  you  want  to 
continue  our  untarnished  reputation  for  the 
payment  of  all  our  debts  in  the  money  of  the 
world. 

Every  insurance  policy  would  be  reduced 
one-half  if  the  company  could  exist  to  pay 
anything,  but  it  would  ruin  the  country  and 
destroy  all  these  institutions  of  savings  for  the 
widows  and  orphans.  It  would  reduce  one- 
half  of  all  savings  banks  deposits^  in  value, 
one-half  by  actual  figures,  but  in  fact,  with 
the  collapse  the  banks  would  have  to  close 
their  doors.  This  would  bring  about  a  fat 


GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

time  for  receivers,  but  a  poor  time  for  the  peo* 
pie.  The  railroad  debt  would  be  scaled  one- 
half  in  theory,  but  in  fact  the  general  loss  and 
depression  it  would  cause  does  not  impress  this 
shrewd  class  of  financiers  with  the  views  that 
they  want  to  try  it.  The  argument  that  we 
can  tell  our  foreign  neighbors  to  take  the  kind 
of  money  we  want  to  pay  them  or  nothing,  or 
"put  their  securities  in  a  cannon  and  fire 
them  back,"  is  but  an  independence  assumed, 
but  not  one  we  could  maintain  or  that  any 
loyal  American  wants.  In  short,  this  class  of 
legislation  would,  on  its  face,  be  the  repudia- 
tion of  one-half  of  our  debts,  but  ip.  fact 
nearly  all  of  them. 

The  man  or  nation  who  lends  the  individual 
or  nation  money  is  not  an  enemy.  To  be  sure, 
they  get  interest  for  it,  and  should,  but  they 
are  not  enemies.  We  would  not  borrow  the 
money  if  we  did  not  need  it,  and  in  good  busi- 
ness transactions,  unless  we  could  make  money 
out  of  it.  If  it  is  profitable  to  hire  money,  a 
good  business  man  just  as  soon  hire  it  as  to 
hire  a  boy.  We  do  not  owe  any  nation  or 
individual  any  gratitude  for  the  money  lent 
us ;  it  was  purely  a  commercial  transaction, 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  118 

but  we  were  fortunate  that  we  could  borrow  it 
to  develop  our  resources  as  fast  as  we  have ; 
to  make  money  as  fast  as  it  has  permitted  us 
to.  Neither  is  there  anything  to  fear  if  the 
Government  happens  to  borrow  a  little  ;  it  is 
no  sign  that  we  are  going  into  bankruptcy  ;  it 
is  a  sign  that  others  have  confidence  in  us. 
The  people  who  rant  about  this  don't  under- 
stand the  first  principles  of  bookkeeping. 
When  we  borrow  money  for  Government 
purposes,  we  either  have  the  money  to  show 
for  it,  or  we  have  discharged  a  past  or  accruing 
obligation.  Many  large  business  and  manu- 
facturing concerns  borrow  heavy  sums  of 
money  and  use  it  to  advantage,  becoming 
rich  by  its  use.  "  If  you  were  ignorant  of  this, 
that  credit  is  the  greatest  capital  of  all  toward 
the  acquisition  of  wealth,  you  would  be  utterly 
ignorant." — (DEMOSTHENES  TO  THE  ATHENIANS.) 

While  we  may  have  only  about  $25  per 
capita,  our  system  of  expansion  through  our 
banks  gives  us,  in  fact,  many  times  that 
amount  for  actual  use.  The  savings  of  the 
wage  earners  are  deposited  in  the  banks  and 
used  again — loaned  to  active  business  firms, 
who  employ  them  profitably. 


114  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

We  have  about  * 

$626,000,000  gold. 
625,000,000  silver. 
475,000,000  paper. 

$1,726,000,000 

Or  about  $25  per  capita.  Under  free  coinage 
of  silver  every  dollar  of  gold  would  leave  us. 
Without  the  gold  we  would  have 

Silver $625,000,000 

Paper 475,000,000 


$1,100,000,000 

The  value  of  this  would  then  be  based  on 
silver,  consequently  would  only  be  worth, 
measured  by  its  purchasing  power,  one-half  of 
what  it  is  now,  or  $550,000,000,  or  actually  $8 
per  capita  based  on  purchasing  power.  If  we 
should  open  our  mints  and  run  them  to  their 
full  capacity,  we  could  only  produce  $40,000,- 
000  each  year.  So  it  would  be  some  time  be- 
fore we  could  restore  the  whole  deficiency  in 
amount,  and  never  in  the  confidence  of  the 
world.  This  question  is  worth  studying.  If 
we  need  a  larger  circulating  medium,  as  all 
advocates  of  free  coinage  advocate,  will  free 

*  The  idea  from  "  Dollars  or  What  ?  " 


GOLD  OB  SILVER.  115 

coinage  give  it  to  us  ?  Why  is  it  that  all  free- 
coinage  countries  have  less  money  per  capita 
than  gold-standard  countries?  Dr.  William 
Preston  Hill*  describes  the  results  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Suppose  that  a  free-silver  President  and 
Congress,  pledged  to  carry  out  this  policy, 
were  elected  in  November,  1896  !  We  must 
recollect  that  they  would  not  go  into  power 
and  could  not  enforce  the  new  basis  until 
March,  1897.  Can  anybody  believe  that  the 
very  next  morning  after  the  election  there 
would  not  begin  a  mad  scramble  to  get  what 
little  gold  was  left  in  the  Treasury ;  that 
everybody  would  not  rush  upon  his  bank  to 
get  out  his  money  while  it  was  still  payable  in 
money  of  the  present  standard  ;  that  the  gold 
would  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  country 
and  shipped  to  foreign  countries  where  its 
value  continued  to  be  recognized? 

"  There  would  ensue  a  universal  lack  of  con- 
fidence, a  run  on  every  bank  in  the  country. 
The  banks  would  be  forced  to  close  their  doors 
and  liquidate,  and  enforce  the  payment  of  all 

*  Author  of  "The  Silver  Question  in  a  Nutshell,*'  St. 
Louis,  Mo. 


116  GOLD   OK   SILVER. 

money  due  to  them,  and  thus  force  every  busi- 
ness man  to  the  wall. 

"Everybody  would  try  to  get  all  existing 
obligations  closed  before  the  change  to  the  new 
standard  and  to  sell  every  security  likely  to  be 
affected  by  the  change  before  it  became  de- 
preciated. 

"  All  our  manufacturing  industries  would  be 
forced  to  close  their  doors,  to  wait  for  the  new 
order  of  things,  because  they  could  not  manu- 
facture products  which  would  soon  have  to 
meet  the  competition  of  free-silver  wages.  • 

"  We  have  here  all  the  elements  of  a  panic 
more  widespread  and  disastrous  than  any  this 
country  has  ever  had  ;  and  I  feel  sure  that  the 
actual  loss  in  material  wealth  to  the  country 
due  to  the  universal  cessation  of  industry, 
stagnation  of  business,  and  entire  loss  of  confi- 
dence in  the  future  would  greatly  exceed  our 
entire  national  debt.  In  the  midst  of  this 
panic  those  who  had  a  debt  falling  due  would 
be  more  injured  than  anybody  else,  because 
they  would  find  it  impossible  either  to  renew 
their  loan  or  to  get  money  to  pay  it  and  they 
would  be  sold  out.  The  effect  upon  this  coun- 
try would  be  the  same  as  the  effect  upon  a 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  117 

bank  which  should  post  upon  its  doors  the 
notice,  "Next  spring  this  bank  will  pay  only 
fifty  cents  upon  the  dollar."  Nobody  need  be 
told  that  the  creditors  of  that  bank  would  not 
wait  till  next  spring  to  place  it  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver." 

It  is  a  subject  of  much  wonder  to  many  how 
some  foreign  countries,  especially  France,  re- 
tain such  heavy  gold  reserves.  It  is  all  on  ac- 
count of  a  fixed  policy.  France  and  the  Latin 
Union  enter  into  an  agreement  to  pursue  one 
system  of  standards  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  the  other  countries  are  not  affected  by 
the  notions  of  interested  people  who  have 
money  metal  to  sell.  While  France  has  more 
money  per  capita,  counting  their  large  reserve, 
I  have  no  doubt  but  that  there  is  more  money 
in  the  hands  of  our  people  than  there  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  public  in  France. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

BECAUSE. 

THERE  has  been  a  business  depression- 
there  is  a  depression.  The  times  are  hard. 
These  conditions  are  the  result  of  causes. 

The  free  silver  advocates  aver  they  are  all 
caused  by  silver  demonetization  in  1873,  an 
assumption  without  any  evidence  to  establish 
its  truth.  When  asked  for  the  proof  they 
reassert  that  the  hard  times  are  "  because  "  sil- 
ver was  demonetized,  they  are  " because"  of 
the  "  crime  of  1873,"  as  Stanley  Wood  puts  it ; 
they  say,  "  Think  as  we  think  or  off  goes  your 
thinker." 

It  would  be  just  as  consistent  for  anyone  to 
assert  that  the  recent  troubles  between  Japan 
and  China  were  caused  "because"  Christopher 
Columbus  discovered  America  in  1492. 

They  say  we  need  more  primary  money.  If 
we  had  no  other  money  or  measure  of  value 
there  would  be  some  logic  in  such  an  argu- 
ment. The  office  of  primary  money  in  the 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  119 

early  days  of  civilization  was  to  measure 
values.  To-day  its  principal  function  is  that 
of  a  "  standard"  by  which  values  are  rated ; 
it  establishes  the  value  of  our  token  money. 
After  we  have  a  reasonable  amount  of  prim 
ary  money  the  quantity  has  no  more  to  do 
with  establishing  the  prices  of  commodities 
than  has  the  number  of  pound  weights  in  the 
world  to  do  with  establishing  the  weight  of 
McGinnis's  pig.  We  only  need  enough  primary 
money,  or  means  of  getting  enough,  to  main- 
tain the  value  of  our  paper  currency  by  re- 
deeming what  we  are  asked  to  redeem,  and  to 
effect  and  rate  foreign  exchanges.  Money  is  a 
measure  of  value  only  when  it  is  actually 
exchanged  for  something — for  a  consideration. 
A  standard  of  value  when  it  rates  exchanges. 
When  we  say  a  barrel  of  flour  is  worth  five 
dollars  we  use  it  as  a  standard.  Primary 
money  rates  the  value  of  token  money  when 
it  allows  that  money  to  act  as  its  proxy. 
When  it  establishes  the  value  of  the  currency 
or  exchange  that  represents  it.  The  quality  of 
our  money  is  of  greater  importance  than  its 
quantity. 
No  one  has  doubted  the  efficiency  of  our 


120  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

paper  currency  for  many  years  in  consum- 
mating commercial  transactions.  If  the  quan- 
tity of  money  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
condition  of  the  times  or  prices,  we  ought  to 
be  much  better  off  to-day  than  we  were  in  '73, 
because  its  volume  and  our  facilities  of  ex- 
change have  increased  much  faster  than  has 
population  and  commerce. 

Mr.  A  pays  Mr.  B  a  twenty-dollar  bill  for  a 
load  of  hay,  Mr.  B  pays  the  same  twenty- 
dollar  bill  to  Mr.  0  for  a  month's  rent,  Mr.  0 
pays  Mr.  A  the  same  twenty-dollar  bill  for 
some  furniture — trace  the  transaction.  Some 
commodities  have  changed  hands,  they  have 
been  measured  by  the  .same  bill,  and  the  me- 
dium of  exchange  is  again  in  the  hands  of  its 
original  owner.  No  primary  money  has  been 
called  for  or  used.  Thus  it  is  with  over 
ninety-eight  per  cent  of  all  business  transac- 
tions. 

In  commenting  upon  this  subject,  Lewis  A. 
Garnett,  in  January,  1895,  Forum  says  :  "Gold 
does  not  directly  affect  two  per  cent  of  the 
international  exchanges  of  the  world,  and  to 
the  extent  of  ninety-eight  per  cent  serves  only 
the  purposes  of  a  standard  of  value  by  which 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  121 

they  are  rated.  Its  functions,  therefore,  in 
such  cases,  are  only  those  of  '  numeration  and 
arithmetic.'  .  .  .  Its  employment  produces 
no  more  effect  upon  the  exchangeable  value  of 
the  metal  as  a  commodity,  and  exerts  no  more 
influence  upon  prices  than  the  fluctuations  in 
the  value  of  dry-goods  would  have  upon  the 
length  of  a  yard  stick,  or  the  speed  of  a  train 
of  cars  would  have  upon  the  length  of  a  mile." 
He  goes  farther  and  shows  that  metallic  money, 
if  used,  possesses  an  unlimited  repeating  power 
in  effecting  exchanges,  but  that  commodities 
soon  reach  the  ultimate  consumer  and  disap- 
pear from  the  market.  This  would  be  true 
with  representative  money ;  no  one  can  esti- 
mate the  number  of  transactions  accomplished 
by  the  use  of  one  ten-dollar  bilL 

The  majority  of  all  transactions  are  com- 
pleted by  cross  charges  through  the  clearing 
houses  and  without  the  actual  use  of  any 
money. 

All  free-coinage  acts  simply  grant  the  privi- 
lege of  coining,  but  leave  it  optional  with  the 
owner  of  bullion  to  dispose  of  the  same  as  he 
sees  fit,  therefore  when  two  metals  can  be 
coined  at  a  certain  ratio  and  one  becomes 


122  GOLD   OR   SILVER, 

worth  more  as  bullion  than  it  is  as  money, 
measured  by  the  other,  the  cheaper,  which 
necessarily  becomes  its  measure  in  money,  is  it 
reasonable  to  assume  that  it  will  be  coined  or 
will  it  seek  a  better  market  ?  I  think  all  free- 
coinage  advocates  overlook  this  point.  The 
experience  of  the  past  conclusively  proves  that 
only  the  cheaper  metal  will  be  made  into  and 
used  as  money. 

Statutes  cannot  regulate  or  control  natural 
laws. 

"  We  should  all  accept  of  the  laws  of  earth 
or  else  change  our  residence  if  possible." 


IT  CAN'T  BE  DONE. 

Uncle  Sam  as  he  would  appear  with  his  load  of  silver  under  a  free-coinage 

act*— trying  to  lift  himself  with  his  own  boot-straps.    The  other 

countries  lose  confidence  in  him  and  turn  away. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  GLANCE   BACKWARD. 

THE  independence  of  those  who  can  get 
along  without  any  of  the  rest  of  the  world 
is  something  remarkable. 

Our  free  silver  friends  tell  us  that  "  we  are 
the  people/'  and  that  we  can  "lift  ourselves 
by  our  own^  bootstraps."  We  can  make  the 
world  take  our  silver  whether  it  is  wanted  or 
not.  To  those  of  us  who  have  ever  studied 
political  economy  their  views  appear  ridicu- 
lous. 

For  the  sake  of  presenting  the  matter  so  it 
may  be  easily  understood,  let  us  begin  in  our 
own  village  with  our  own  merchants  and  our- 
selves, their  customers.  We  have  made  up  our 
minds  that  it  is  foolish  to  use  the  money  of  the 
world .  Consequently  we  go  to  our  merchant  to 
buy  goods  and  offer  him  improvised  money, 
which  we  tell  him  is  good  enough.  Will  he  sell 
us  the  goods  ?  Our  county  makes  up  its  mind 
that  it  will  pay  its  debts  in  its  own  money,  re- 
gardless of  what  the  other  counties  say,  and  the 


GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

Board  of  Supervisors  passes  laws  to  that  effect. 
Will  the  adjoining  counties  sell  us  their  prod- 
ucts, such  as  we  want,  if  our  money  is  a  local 
money  ?  Let  us  trace  this  process  to  the  State, 
yes,  to  the  United  States.  The  United  States 
to-day  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  rest  of 
the  world  that  the  counties  or  States  did  to  the 
United  States  a  few  years  ago.  Shortly  after 
the  Revolutionary  war  our  forefathers  went 
West — "'way  West"  -about  two  hundred 
miles,  and  to  go  that  distance  in  those  good  old 
times  required  more  exertion  and  more  time 
than  it  does  to-day  to  move  from  New  York  to 
California.  Their  commercial  relations  were 
confined  to  a  very  small  circle,  and  their 
money,  what  little  they  had,  possessed  a 
variety  of  values.  They  traded  commodities 
oftener  than  anything  else.  If  they  ex- 
changed anything  for  money  they  could  not 
tell  how  long  the  money  would  possess  any 
value  unless  it  was  primary  money,  and  very 
little  of  this  was  in  circulation.  They  raised 
what  they  wanted  to  eat.  Nature  then,  as 
now,  was  kind.  They  spun  and  manufactured 
their  own  linen  and  woollen  goods,  built  their 
own  houses ;  in  short,  they  were  their  own 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  125 

manufacturers.  Their  wants  were  limited. 
They  had  never  seen  much  and  they  did  not 
want  much.  They  worked  through  the  sum- 
mer to  provide  for  the  winter. 

The  building  of  schoolhouses,  the  application 
of  steam  to  navigation,  the  building  of  rail 
roads  and  the  ingenuity  of  man  soon  changed 
all  this.  The  world  began  to  grow  smaller, 
and  these  same  people  were  forced  to  become 
rich  from  the  increased  valuation  of  the  prop- 
erty they  held. 

Their  children  began  to  go  West,  not  two 
hundred  miles,  but  many  hundreds  and  some- 
times thousands  of  miles.  There  came  a  neces- 
sity for  a  medium  of  exchange — a  money  that 
was  valuable  when  the  property  of  the  West 
could  not  be  traded  for  the  property  of  the  East 
—and  the  Government  provided  the  money ; 
but  the  history  of  this  provision  is  the  history 
of  a  great  many  experiments  and  disappoint- 
ments. It  illustrates  how  carefully  this  ques- 
tion should  be  handled. 

Currency  began  with  the  settler's  script,  then 
the  State  bank  issues,  then  the  issue  of  the 
general  Government,  until  we  have  reached 
the  standard  money  of  to-day. 


126  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

The  world  has  grown  smaller  and  the  little 
family  that  lived  within  themselves  in  the  far 
West  at  that  time,  but  now  the  East  has  sim- 
ply become  larger  with  increased  commercial 
relations  ;  with  commercial  relations  that  sur- 
round the  globe  ;  with  requirements  for  money 
that  is  readily  exchangeable  anywhere  in  the 
world,  for  a  consideration. 

We  are  far  from  being  as  independent  upon 
this  score  as  some  would  endeavor  to  make  it 
appear,  and  in  the  settlement  of  our  money 
question  great  care  must  be  exercised.  We 
have  only  to  ascertain  the  kind  of  money  that 
is  acceptable  everywhere  in  the  world,  and  that 
is  the  kind  of  money  we  want. 

"  What  is  most  needed  now  is  not  more 
money ;  it  is  wisdom  among  our  legislators  and 
thoughtful,  honest  action  by  Congress." 

"Our  nation  seems  to  have  wandered  over 
the  old  plains  of  experiment  and  to  have 
passed  the  qualities  which  brought  death  to 
seize  the  virtues  which  gave  life.  We  are  a 
branch  of  an  empire  which  had  been  experi- 
menting for  a  thousand  years  from  Alfred  on- 
ward, and  an  active  and  stormy  thousand 
years  they  were." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

WHERE  ARE   SOME  OF  OUR  GREAT  LEADERS? 

^  7T  S  God  came  with  our  nation  into  this 
r\  century,  so  may  He  raise  up  great 
patriots  to  help  in  the  new  period  on  whose 
borders  this  republic  stands  in  such  greatness." 
Some  of  the  leaders  are  in  the  front  ranks  of 
this  battle  of  standards.  Is  it  wrong  for  us  to 
assume  that  some  are  waiting  to  see  which 
side  to  array  themselves  upon,  waiting  to  see 
which  is  to  be  the  winner.  Eobert  E.  Lee  had 
some  misgivings  as  to  which  side  to  fight  for 
when  the  war  broke  out.  He  knew  it  was  his 
duty  to  take  one  side  or  the  other.  He  was  a 
Southerner  and  made  a  mistake,  but  he  was 
honest.  Who  is  there  in  the  United  States 
to  day,  North  or  South,  who  does  not  have  in 
his  heart  great  respect  for  the  memory  of 
Eobert  E.  Lee  ? 

Whom  do  the  people  look  to  for  the  solution 
of  these  great  questions  ?  Their  leaders.  If 
they  be  of  the  stamp  of  a  Webster,  a  Clay,  or 
a  Elaine,  you  have  heard  from  them,  but  if 


128  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

they  be  politicians  only,  who  think  their 
chances  fair  for  office,  you  will  not  hear  from 
them.  The  man  who  has  failed  to  place 
himself  unmistakably  on  one  side  or  the 
other  of  this  question  is  not  worthy  of  your 
franchise. 

Webster  once  said  :  "I  would  rather  be  sight 
than  to  be  President."  He  was  never  Presi- 
dent, but  whose  memory  is  more  revered  ? 
Elaine  and  Clay  are  examples  of  the  same 
kind. 

"  A  patriotic  statesman  is  a  man  who  wants 
to  do  something  for  his  country  ;  a  politician  is 
a  man  who  wants  his  country  to  do  something 
for  him."  We  have  too  much  politics — too 
little  patriotism.  In  times  of  war  we  develop 
patriots — men  who  are  willing  to  do  and  die 
that  their  country  may  live.  In  times  of  peace 
we  develop  politicians,  who  are  willing  to  live 
even  if  their  country  dies.  In  times  of  distress 
the  best  element  is  awakened  to  action. 

This  is  the  battle  of  standards.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  distress  caused  almost  directly  by 
it.  There  will  be  no  blood  shed,  but  where 
are  some  of  our  so-called  statesmen,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  instruct  the  people  for  their  best 


GOLD  OB  SILVER.  129 

interests  ?  If  you  don't  hear  from  them ,  go  out 
and  find  a  Cincinnatus.  "  There  is  no  condi- 
tion of  life  that  excuses  a  wise  man  from  dis- 
charging his  duty." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PUBLIC  CONFIDENCE  NECESSARY  TO  GOOD  TIME8. 

IF  you  were  doing  business  with  a  bank,  and 
that  bank  should  change  its  policy,  change 
its  officers  and  elect  some  from  different  stations 
in  business,  different  vocations,  without  refer- 
ence to  qualifications,  but  because  they  were 
good  politicians,  don't  you  think  you  would 
withdraw  your  account  ?  Don't  you  think 
that  the  depositors  of  this  bank  would  call  for 
their  balances  ?  Would  they  not  have  this 
right?  In  fact,  would  you  not  expect  to  see 
this  result  ? 

This  is  just  what  we  are  doing  in  govern- 
ment affairs.  Is  it  strange  that  after  such 
radical  changes  we  see  hard  times?  There 
should  be  two,  or  perhaps  more,  political 
parties,  but  the  vital  questions  concerning 
finance,  banking,  tariff,  etc.,  should  be  fixed 
and  be  as  hard  to  change  as  it  is  to  change 
our  Constitution.  Confidence  of  the  world 
and  in  each  other  is  the  chief  promoter  of 
business. 


"SKY  SCRAPERS." 


The  question  before  the  country  is  not  one 
requiring  our  mints  to  manufacture  more  money, 
but  the  question  of  our  lawmakers  establishing  a 
universal  rating  standard  for  our  money  unit. 
The  asserted  requirement  for  free  silver,  "more 
money,"  is  confounded  with  the  possible  require- 
ment for  a  larger  circulating  medium,  "more 
money." 

Our  circulating  medium  can  and  should  be  made 
of  paper  and  its  value  rated  by  the  standard  of  the 
civilized  world.  If  this  were  silver,  then  it  should 
be  silver.  If  gold,  then  it  should  be  gold.  All 
transactions  have  been  measured  by  the  world's 
standard  since  our  Government  stood.  We  must 
legislate  confidence  into  our  people,  and  then 
their  money  will  go  into  business — "Capital  is  a 
timid  creature."  No  laws  could  be  passed  that 
would  give  the  millions  more  money  except  laws 
that  would  impart  confidence  and  give  them 
more  work. 

There  is  lots  of  money,  but  little  confidence. 
A  capitalist  will  not  loan  or  deposit  his  money 
when  he  fears  it  will  not  all  return  to  him. 
They  have  gone  to  building  "sky  scrapers" 
twenty  stories  high.  This  money  would  do  our 
people  more  good  if  it  were  kept  closer  to  earth 
and  engaged  in  regular  mercantile  pursuits. 
Dollars  in  trade  are  more  nimble.  This  to  illus- 
trate that  capitalists  are  seeking  to  invest,  but 
they  are  not  taking  chances  on  manufactured 
goods  or  merchandise  when  they  don't  know 
what  the  future  dollar  is  to  be. 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  131 

We,  as  a  country,  are  simply  one  of  the 
countries  of  the  world,  and  other  countries 
should  have  the  same  confidence  in  us  that  we 
have  in  each  other.  We  are  creditors  of  other 
countries,  other  countries,  perchance,  are 
creditors  of  ours.  Don't  we  bear  the  same 
relation  to  them  and  they  to  us  in  these  com- 
mercial transactions  that  our  inhabitants  bear 
to  each  other — that  the  depositors  bear  to  the 
bank? 

After  all,  more  should  depend  upon  the 
character  of  the  men  we  elect  to  office  than 
upon  the  policy  of  the  party,  and  the  policy  of 
all  parties  should  be  limited.  Politics  should 
have  nothing  to  do  with  changing  the  laws 
affecting  our  tariff  or  finance.  An  absolute 
change  in  government,  change  of  policy, 
change  of  officers  every  few  years  is  positively 
ruinous  to  business  and  unsettles  everything 
for  the  time  being,  it  blocks  the  wheels  of 
progress  and  leaves  us  in  a  state  of  uncertainty. 
A  poor  law  is  almost  better  than  an  uncer- 
tainty. The  business  of  the  country  will  shape 
itself  to  its  requirements. 

When  a  change  is  promised  and  the  party 
in  power  is  known  to  be  able  to  carry  it  out, 


132  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

the  business  men,  the  manufacturers,  the  mer- 
chants all  wait  to  see  how  it  will  affect  them. 
The  laborer,  mechanic,  and  all  who  earn  their 
living  by  industrial  pursuits  are  idle.  Every- 
thing is  idle  except  the  consumption  of  food. 
It  costs  as  much  and  gradually  more  to  live 
while  waiting  for  the  factories  to  start  than  it 
did  before. 

Eeferring  to  our  national  bank  system,  it  is 
probably  one  of  the  best  in  the  world,  but  it 
can  be  improved.  Surely,  the  depositor  should 
be  protected  against  failure  by  the  Govern- 
ment, and  in  case  of  failure  he  should  at  once 
receive  his  money. 

With  banks  surrounded  with  this  certainty, 
safe  deposit  vaults,  the  enemies  of  our  circu- 
lating medium,  would  go  out  of  business,  and 
the  money  would  go  into  business.  In  case  of 
failure  of  a  bank,  the  Government  can  better 
wait  for  liquidation  and  the  settlement  of  the 
same  through  the  hands  of  a  receiver  than  can 
the  public. 

This  money  would  immediately  find  a  place 
in  business  and  not  distress  the  widow,  the 
orphan  or  some  other  person,  who,  perchance3 
may  have  had  their  all  deposited  therein. 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  133 

Everyone  has  confidence  in  the  Government. 
Everybody  knows  that  "  Uncle  Sam  "  can  pay 
his  bills.  Let  the  people  know  that  the  na- 
tional banks  were  controlled  in  this  way,  and 
the  millions  that  are  now  withdrawn  from  cir- 
culation in  this  country  would  find  active  em- 
ployment in  the  commercial  world  in  augment- 
ing and  prosecuting  business. 

If  the  Government  needs  to  borrow  money 
let  it  make  its  bonds  in  small  denominations 
and  allow  the  people  of  the  United  States  to 
buy  them. 

Money  in  safe  deposit  vaults  and  in  secret 
places  does  not  do  us  any  good.  Money  in  use 
helps  everybody.  Surround  our  banking  in- 
stitutions with  public  confidence  and  they  will 
hold  the  earnings  and  savings  of  all  of  our 
people. 

The  manufacturers  and  merchants  will  use 
the  money  ;  the  one  to  build  fires  in  the  forges 
and  to  start  the  spindles  and  the  looms  ;  the 
other  to  purchase  their  products  and  to  pur- 
chase the  products  of  the  farmers,  who  in  turn 
will  use  the  products  of  the  manufacturers. 

When  we  are  successful  we  always  hear  the 
merry  morning,  noon  and  night  whistles  of' 


134  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

industry.  We  see  the  faces  of  the  boys  with 
their  dinner  pails  in  hand  on  their  way  to 
make  an  honest  dollar.  The  merchant  greets 
these  sons  of  industry  and  exchanges  value 
received  for  their  earnings.  The  bank  receives 
their  deposits  and  loans  the  same  again  to  help 
the  industrial  world.  Get  the  idle  dollars  out 
of  their  hiding-places  and  they  will  help  re- 
move the  idleness  from  the  streets. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ALL   MEN  CREATED  EQUAL. 

"It  is  often  a  pleasure  to  think  of  our  nation  as  being 
founded  not  only  upon  the  cold  doctrine  of  equal  rights,  but 
also  upon  the  warmer  idea  of  man's  reverence  for  man." 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  grand- 
est document  ever  written  by  man,  says:  "  All 
men  are  created  equal,"  and  goes  on,  "they 
are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  un- 
alienable  rights/'  that  among  these  are  "life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 

Although  these  ideas  seem  to  be  very  clearly 
put,  notwithstanding  the  same,  some  take  a 
different  meaning.  For  instance,  one  class  of 
people  holds  this  to  mean  that  if  one's  neigh- 
bor has  more  of  this  world's  comforts  than 
himself,  he  should  divide  with  him.  The  world 
was  not  started  in  this  way,  It  means  we 
have  equal  rights,  equal  rights  to  the  unaided 
products  of  nature.  The  right  to  work  and 
enjoy  the  products  of  our  labor,  the  right  to 
think,  and  to  enjoy  the  products  of  our 
thoughts ;  the  right  to  partake  of  the  free  air, 


136  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

of  the  beautiful  sunlight,  of  the  babbling 
brook,  of  the  perfume  of  the  flowers,  and  the 
right  to  develop  our  mental  and  physical  pow- 
ers. It  is  nice  to  think,  "  This  is  my  air,  this 
is  my  sunlight,  this  is  my  Earth." 

If  we  are  to  divide  with  our  neighbors  and 
they  are  to  divide  with  us,  let  us  start  at  the 
beginning.  The  unit  of  everything  is  brain 
power.  How  does  it  happen  that  this  is  so  un- 
equally divided  ?  "  One  man  with  a  spoonful 
of  brains,  and  another  with  a  magnificent  in- 
tellectual development."  We  have  all  degrees 
of  mental  power,  from  the  undeveloped  peasant 
to  that  of  genius  ;  all  degrees  of  physical  power, 
from  the  dwarf  to  the  giant ;  all  degrees  of 
culture,  from  the  uneducated  Indian  to  the 
finest  artist  or  musician.  If  we  are  going  to 
divide  our  worldly  effefcts  equally,  why  not 
divide  these?  No,  it  cannot  be  done.  "A 
man  is  worth  as  much  as  a  horse. "  He  is  worth 
the  record  he  makes— no  more,  no  less.  The 
free  air  is  his.  His  life  is  what  he  makes  it. 
He  is  entitled  to  the  products  of  his  own  hands, 
the  products,  of  his  own  brains,  the  products 
of  his  own  genius — no  more,  no  less. 

Journeying  up  the  pathway  of  life  we  have 


GOLD   OR  SILVER.  137 

met  people  coming  down,  we  have  passed 
others  going  up.  "  Water  is  always  finding 
its  level."  There  are  niches  all  along  for  each 
of  us.  Places  and  stations  that  we  seem  to 
fit.  When  we  are  in  the  right  place  we  are 
happy  ;  when  in  the  wrong,  we  are  unhappy  ; 
we  are  liable  to  envy  others  who  have  been 
more  fortunate  than  ourselves,  more  prudent, 
more  industrious,  more  frugal.  This  disposi- 
tion causes  strikes,  causes  troubles — troubles 
that  must  be  shared  by  the  innocent.  If  we 
have  not  the  right  to  the  products  of  our  own 
brains,  why  have  we  the  brains  ?  If  we  have 
not  the  right  to  the  products  of  our  own  physi- 
cal powers,  why  have  we  the  powers  ?  If  we 
have  not  the  right  to  the  products  of  our  own 
abilities,  why  have  we  the  abilities  ? 

There  will  always  be  a  difference  in  the  sta- 
tions of  life,  always  a  difference  in  people. 
There  should  be — it  is  so  intended.  You  must 
work  for  somebody,  somebody  must  work  for 
you.  The  work  must  be  done.  You  must 
think  for  somebody,  somebody  must  think  for 
you.  You  must  look  up  to  somebody,  some- 
body must  look  up  to  you.  The  "game  of 
life"  is  a  game  of  strife,  a  game  of  hustle. 


138  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

What  we  accomplish  must  be  by  our  own 
efforts.  You  must  get  your  share,  I  must  get 
mine.  If  we  spend  too  much  time  ^trying  to 
get  another's  place  in  the  race,  somebody  will 
get  ours.  If  you  are.  dissatisfied  with  the 
products  of  your  labor,  stop  and  consider  your 
own  attainments.  "For  every  place  in  life 
there  are  hundreds  of  untrained  minds  seeking 
it.  For  every  trained  mind  there  are  hundreds 
of  places  seeking  it." 

If  everything  were  to  be  divided  equally, 
what  inducement  would  there  be  for  us  to 
work,  what  inducement  would  there  be  for  us 
to  improve  ourselves  ?  The  common  honey-bee 
kills  off  its  drones — our  drones  feed  upon  the 
industry  of  others,  and  agitate  and  disturb 
society.  They  cause  strikes,  disaster,  hunger 
and  misery.  They  destroy.  They  are  a  barrier 
to  our  free  institutions.  They  wonder  how  a 
Pullman,  once  an  ordinary  mechanic,  has  come 
in  possession  of  such  great  wealth,  and  all 
that  prevents  their  robbing  him  of  his  accu- 
mulations is  the  power  to  do  so.  The  man 
who  entertains  these  views  is  no  better  than 
the  common  highway  robber — no,  not  as  good. 
One  has  the  courage  to  go  out  into  the  dark- 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  139 


ness  of  the  night  and  attack  his  victim,  the 
other  lacks  the  courage,  but  by  agitation  and 
secret  organization  surrounds  himself  with  a 
lot  of  weaker  minds  and  causes  more  suffering 
than  can  ever  be  atoned. 

Pullman  goes  on,  "  well  fed"  and  practically 
unharmed.  The  workmen  led  by  this  false 
prophet  lose  their  positions  and  their  families 
are  left  destitute.  If  this  suffering  could  be 
placed  where  it  belongs,  everybody  would  re- 
joice. But  no,  the  innocent  and  weak  suffer 
for  it.  The  agitators  have  gone  to  new  fields. 

What  have  you  done  with  your  natural 
powers  ;  have  you  put  them  to  their  best  uses? 
What  have  you  done  with  the  money  you 
made  ? 

"  I  had  is  a  heart  ache, 
I  have  is  a  fountain  ; 
You  are  worth  what  you  saved, 
Not  the  millions  you  made." 

Don't  get  soured  and  think  everybody  is 
against  you.  If  you  were  once  successful  and 
happy  you  can  be  again.  If  you  have  not  yet 
found  the  place  you  fit,  you  can  find  it. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every/ American  to  try  and 
wipe  out  this  disposition  of  discontent.  This 
disposition  of  enviousness.  This  disposition  of 


14:0  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

desiring  ill-gotten  wealth — wealth  appropriated 
from  others.  Every  good  American  loves  his 
country  ;  he  loves  its  institutions.  He  should 
try  to  develop  among  his  fellow  men  a  disposi- 
tion to  produce.  There  is  work  for  us  all  to 
do.  We  must  work  where  our  services  are 
needed.  Whenever  we  become  too  large  for 
the  position  we  are  occupying  there  is  room 
one  step  higher,  and  always  room  at  the  top. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

OUR   COUNTRY. 

O  nation  has  yet  been  killed  by  labor 
strikes  or  by  silver  or  gold  money,  or  by 
tariff  or  free  trade.  These  factors  may  injure 
a  state,  .but  they  do  not  explain  the  deserts 
along  the  Nile  and  in  Palestine  and  Greece.' ' 

This  is  the  best  country  in  the  world — the 
most  prosperous.  In  it,  the  same  as  in  any 
other,  we  must  sweat  our  heads  for  what 
we  get,  but  the  question  before  us  now  is, 
"  whether  we  will  sweat  them  for  good  or 
poor  money,"  Fortunately  this,  under  our 
principle  of  government,  will  be  left  to  the 
voice  of  the  people — the  voice'  of  the  wage 
earners-7-they  will  settle  it  and  settle  it  right. 
We  periodically  are  confronted  with  a  new 
crop  of  demagogues  whom  we  have  to  push 
aside,  but  they  are  necessary.  We  are  better 
off  after  each  struggle — stronger.  It  makes  us 
study  and  understand  our  institutions.  We 
would  become  stupid  and  sleepy  if  we  did  not 


142  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

have  them.  They  are  ever  ready  to  come 
before  the  people  on  new  and  manufactured 
issues,  and  they  only  establish  the  right  the 
more  firmly.  They  take  advantage  of  every 
misfortune  to  bloom,  but  they  only  last  for 
"an  hour"  and  are  forgotten.  A  few  years 
ago  some  of  them  took  up  the  greenback  issue. 
What  became  of  them  and  their  issue  we  all 
know.  This  silver  craze  is  in  the  same  line 
and  we  predict  for  it  the  same  end. 

"  As  impure  air  and  impure  water  hasten  to 
precipitate  their  impurities  and  become  sweet 
again,  so  a  nation  or  a  race  will  cast  off  all 
evils  many  times  before  it  will  consent  to  per- 
ish. So  our  nation  will  often  purify  itself.  It 
will  leave  behind  Burns,  the  drunkard,  and  hold 
fast  to  Burns,  the  poet.  It  will  let  fall  our 
Congress  and  lead  forward  the  country.  It 
will  precipitate  Tammany  as  water  precipitates 
dirt." 

Interested  politicians  have  taken  advantage 
of  this  depression,  using  it  to  gain  an  end,  and 
it's  going  to  make  us  all  work  for  a  time,  but 
before  the  votes  are  cast  the  public  will  under- 
stand the  question  and  see  that  confidence  is 
all  that  is  lacking. 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  143 

Let  us  hope  for  careful,  honest  thought  and 
investigation.  The  subject  demands  the  atten- 
tion of  every  voter.  All  others  amount  to  bufc 
little  as  compared  with  it.  We  feel  quite  sure 
that  no  candidate  will  be  elected  upon  a  free 
silver  platform,  but  if  that  party  shows  any 
great  strength,  it  will  sadly  affect  business  by 
shattering  our  foreign  friends'  confidence  in  us. 
Cyclones,  strikes  or  calamities  of  any  nature 
could  do  more  for  the  agitators  of  free  silver 
from  this  time  on  than  all  their  platform  ora- 
tors or  literature  can  do.  After  this  question 
comes  before  the  thoughtful  voters  of  this 
country  and  the  gold  standard  is  vindicated,  I 
predict  "  Old  Glory  "  will  wave,  as  she  always 
has  done,  over  a  pure,  honest  and  prosperous 
nation. 

"  Our  nation  is  the  creator  and  sustainer  of  all 
the  forms  of  glorious  life.  It  is  the  paradise 
that  grows  all  these  divine  flowers.  The  na- 
tion's wisdom  makes  them,  the  nation's  arms 
defend  them.  When  the  nation  suffers  we  all 
suffer.  When  the  oak  tree  falls,  its  leaves 
flutter  no  more  in  the  morning  sun  ;  the  vines 
on  its  trunk  are  carried  down  in  the  sad  ruin. 
The  people  never  die  of  an  active  disease,  but 


144  GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

only  of  a  slow  consumption.  Whatever  para- 
lyzes the  universal  and  perpetual  duties,  that 
brings  death.  If  the  schoolhouse  keeps  open, 
if  religion  keeps  busy,  if  literature  remains 
popular,  if  the  farmers  keep  in  the  furrow,  if 
the  millions  love  industry  and  the  honorable 
life,  the  historian  and  the  eloquent  essayist 
must  look  in  vain  for  ruins.  A  few  stones 
may  crumble  in  a  wall,  but  industry  will  re- 
place them." 

Though  changes  may  the  world  appall, 
Though  crowns  may  break  and  thrones  may  fall, 
Our  banner  shall  survive  them  all, 

And  every  line  in  story. 
The  rainbow  of  a  rescued  land, 
Where  freemen  brave  together  stand, 
With  truth  and  courage,  hand  in  hand, 

Floats  proudly  there,  Old  Glory. 


ASK  FOR  TESTIMONIALS  BEFORE 
YOU  TAKE  THE  MEDICINE. 


Our  merchants  advertise  "hard  times  prices"  to 
sell  their  goods*  This  makes  everybody  think  the 
times  are  worse  than  they  really  are*  and  is  respon- 
sible for  much  of  our  trouble* 


The  Free  Silver  advocates  advertise  their  "Silver 
Cure"  as  a  "Cure-all*"  Most  patent  medicine 
concerns  append  testimonials  from  those  who  have 
successfully  used  their  remedies*  Can  our  Free 
Silver  friends  show  us  good  testimonials  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  times  in  Free  Silver  countries — say 
from  half-civilized  nations*  such  as  China,  Mexico 
and  most  South  American  states? 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
SOME  "ROUND  NUMBERS." 

LEANED  from  various  sources,  but  suf- 
Vjf  ficiently  accurate  from  which  to  base 
causes  and  effects. 

"  Would  there  were  some  census  of  the  people 
who  are  making  good  use  of  the  United  States" 

At  the  close  of  the  war  our  national  debt 
was  $2,756,431,571,  or  about  $85  per  capita. 
Taxation  was  then  about  $15  per  capita. 

Our  national  debt  in  1895  was  $1,096,913,120, 
or  about  $16  per  capita,  and  taxation  about 
$5.50  per  capita. 

The  national  debt  of  France  is  about  $200  per 
capita. 

The  national  debt  of  England  is  about  $84 
per  capita. 

In  1870  our  taxes  were  about  $10  per  capita. 

In  1880  our  taxes  were  about  $8  per  capita. 

In  1890  our  taxes  were  about  $6  per  capita. 

In  1895  our  taxes  are  about  $5.50  per  capita. 

In  1792,  based  upon  the  commercial  relation 


146  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

of  silver  and  gold,  the  ratio  was  established  as 
15  to  1  by  statute,  and  both  metals  had  the 
right  of  free  coinage  at  that  ratio.  The  com- 
mercial relation  changed,  and  after  1806  to 
1812  gold  sought  a  better  market  than  the 
mint.  In  1814  we  only  coined  $77,000  in  gold, 
and  after  that  practically  none.  Gold  demon- 
etized itself.  We  had  silver  monemetallism 
until  the  legal  ratio  was  changed  to  16  to  1  in 
1834,  then  silver  sought  a  better  market,  demon- 
etized itself.  In  1850-52  we  coined  less  than 
$50,000  in  silver  dollars,  but  in  1852  alone  we 
coined  $56,000,000  in  gold.  Since  1834  we 
have  had  practically  gold  monemetallism.  Sil- 
ver and  other  money  circulating  only  upon  a 
maintained  gold  basis.  In  1873  silver  was 
demonetized  by  law.  The  commercial  ratio 
between  the  metals  at  that  date  was  15.92  to  1. 
The  commercial  ratio  now  is  about  30  to  1, 
i.  e^  thirty  ounces  of  silver  is  worth  as 
much  as  one  ounce  of  gold.  The  standard 
silver  dollar  contains  371J  grains  pure  silver. 

The  Bland  Act.  In  1878  the  Bland-Allison 
Act,  which  provided  for  the  purchase  of  not 
less  than  two  millions  nor  more  than  four  mill- 
ion dollars'  worth  of  silver  bullion  per  month 


GOLD    OR    SILVER,  147 

by  the  Government,  and  this  to  be  coined  into 
standard  silver  dollars,  forced  a  large  amount 
of  silver  dollars  upon  us,  not  as  primary 
money  but  to  circulate  on  a  maintained 
value. 

The  Sherman  Act,  in  1890,  repealed  the 
Bland  law  and  provided  for  the  purchase  of 
four  and  one-half  million  ounces  of  silver  bull- 
ion per  month  to  be  paid  for  in  legal  tender 
Treasury  notes,  redeemable  in  gold  or  silver  at 
the  option  of  the  Government.  During  the 
ten  years  preceding  the  passage  of  this  law  the 
United  States  Treasury  only  exchanged  about 
twenty  million  dollars  in  gold  for  paper  cur- 
rency ;  in  the  four  years  it  was  in  force  the 
withdrawals  from  the  Treasury  exceeded  two 
hundred  and  sixty  million  dollars.  The 
United  States  has  lost  more  than  two  hundred 
million  dollars  on  the  depreciation  in  the  mar- 
ket value  of  the  silver  in  their  vaults  bought 
under  this  law,  and  lying  there  behind  the 
silver  certificates  issued.  This  same  law  has 
driven  over  five  hundred  million  dollars  of 
foreign  capital  out  of  the  country. 

From  1792  to  1873  there  was  only  8,000,000 
silver  dollars  coined.  Since  that  time  there 


148  GOLD    OB   SILVER. 

have  been  coined  over  397,000,000  silver  dol- 
lars. 

Since  1873  the  United  States  has  bought  for 
monetary  purposes  over  $500,000,000  worth  of 
silver. 

To-day  we  have  only  about  56,000,000  silver 
dollars  in  circulation  ;  the  balance  is  piled  up 
in  the  Treasury  vaults  at  Washington. 

The  United  States  mints,  running  full  capac- 
ity and  full  time,  could  only  coin  about  40,00V 
000  silver  dollars  in  a  year. 

There  was  about  $135,000,000  gold  in  cir- 
culation in  1873,  our  stock  of  gold  and  silver 
money  to-day  is:  gold,  $626,000,000;  silver, 
$625,000,000. 

Silver  to-day  (1895)  is  worth  about  sixty-two 
cents  per  ounce  ;  gold,  $20  per  ounce. 

In  1893  the  price  of  the  silver  bullion  in  a 
dollar  ranged  from  fifty  to  sixty-five  cents. 

In  1873  the  world  produced  4,650,000  ounces 
of  gold  and  63,267,000  ounces  of  silver  ;  of  this 
the  United  States  produced  1,741,000  ounces  of 
gold  and  27,651,000  ounces  of  silver. 

In  1891  the  world's  product  of  gold  was 
6,010,000  ounces,  an  increase  of  thirty  per 
cent  over  1873  ;  140,865,000  ounces  of  silver,  an 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  149 

increase  of  over  100  per  cent ;  of  this  the  United 
States  produced  1,604,840  ounces  of  gold  and 
58,330,000  ounces  of  silver. 

The  coined  silver  in  the  United  States  is 
about  $9  per  capita,  but  outside  the  Treasury 
vaults  (except  subsidiary  coins)  it  is  less  than 
eighty  cents  per  capita. 

In  1891  the  world  coined  $138,000,000  silver. 

In  1892  the  world  coined  $156,000,000  silver. 

In  1893  the  world  coined  $135,000,000  sil- 
ver. 

The  world's  product  of  silver  since  America 
was  discovered  is  about  $9,909,000,000  ;  of  this 
$4,055,700,000  has  been  coined  in  to  money. 

In  1873  to  1893  the  product  was  $2,010,000,- 
000,  increasing  rapidly  each  year  since. 

In  1865  to  1877  the  product  of  silver  in  tho 
United  States  was  $320,000,000  ;  from  1878  to 
1891,  $135,000,000. 

For  the  first  period  our  excess  export  of  sil- 
ver was  $223,000,000  ;  for  the  second  period, 
$137,000,000. 

The  total  product  of  gold  in  the  world  from 
1792  to  1892,  one  hundred  years,  was  $5,633,- 
000,000  ;  silver,  $5,004,000,000. 

The  world's  product  of  silver  1792  to  1873 


150  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

was  $2,850,000,000  ;  since  1873  it  has  been  $2,- 
380,000,000. 

The  amount  of  gold  produced  to-day  is  more 
than  the  whole  product  of  both  metals  in  1873. 

The  production  of  gold  in  the  last  thirty-five 
years  has  increased  more  than  twenty  times  as 
fast  as  the  world's  population ;  about  five 
eighths  the  gold  produced  in  the  last  four  hun- 
dred years  has  been  in  the  last  thirty  -five  years. 
The  product  of  money  metals  for  that  time  has 
been  $3,950,000,000  gold  and  $3,350,000,000  sil- 
ver. 

In  1873  the  world's  product  of  gold  was  $96,- 
200,000;  silver,  $81,800,000. 

In  1894  the  world's  product  of  gold  was  $185,- 
000,000  ;  silver,  $209,165,000. 

From  1830  to  1850,  twenty  years,  the  world's 
product  of  gold  was  about  $525,000,000. 

From  1850  to  1870,  twenty  years,  the  world's 
product  of  gold  was  about  $2,000,000,000. 

From  1870  to  1895,  twenty-five  years,  it  ex- 
ceeded the  whole  product  from  the  discovery  of 
America  up  to  1850. 

The  world's  average  annual  production  of 
gold  and  silver  from  1866  to  1893,  twenty-eight 
years,  $117,000,000  gold,  $109,391,000  silver; 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  151 

1886  to  1893,  seven  years,  $124,000,000  gold, 
$163,900,000  silver  ;  1890  to  1893,  three  years, 
$142,000,000  gold,  197,000,000  silver. 

Estimated  amount  gold  and  silver  money  in 
circulation  in  the  world  in  1892  was  over  $7,- 
000,000,000. 

The  amount  of  money  in  circulation  in  the 
United  States  in  1894,  $1,726,000,000,  all  kinds. 

From  1380  to  1880,  five  hundred  years,  the 
product  of  gold  in  the  world  was  10,355  tons  ; 
silver,  193,000  tons.  Ratio,  18.6  to  1.  This 
long  period  would  make  a  good  ratio,  but  the 
increased  production  of  the  silver  to-day  would 
show  a  different  one. 

Cost  of  Producing  Silver. — In  1874  smelting 
charges  Were  $35  per  ton  on  ore  producing  $100 
per  ton,  twenty  per  cent  discount  for  loss,  freight 
was  $25  per  ton,  leaving  the  miner  only  $20. 

In  1884  smelting  charges  were  only  $8  per 
ton,  five  per  cent  discount  for  loss  ;  freight,  $5 
per  ton  on  the  same  kind  of  ore,  thus  leaving 
miner  $82.  Facilities  have  improved  since  in 
the  same  ratio. 

The  year  1894  showed  an  excess  of  exports  of 
merchandise  and  silver  over  imports  of  $186,- 
000,000  and  an  excess  of  $81,000,000  ^old  ex- 


152  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

ported  over  imports.  This  shows  that  distrust 
had  caused  our  securities  to  return  to  us  and 
our  gold  to  leave. 

In  the  year  1894  we  produced  and  exported 
over  $39,500,000  worth  of  silver. 

The  amount  of  money  per  capita  in  some  of 
the  principal  countries  of  the  world  is,  approx- 
imately: France,  $36  ;  Belgium,  $26  ;  United 
States,  $25  ;  Portugal,  $25  ;  Netherlands,  $25  ; 
Australia,  $24;  England,  $20  ;  Germany,  $19  ; 
Spain,  $18  ;  South  American  States,  $17  ;  Aus- 
tria, $9  ;  Italy,  $9  ;  Russia,  $8  ;  Mexico,  less 
than  $5  ;  Japan,  $4;  India,  less  than  $4 ;  China, 
$2.  All  silver  countries  have  less  money  per 
capita  than  gold  standard  countries. 

Banks. — The  banking  capital  of  the  United 
States  is  about  $1,400,000,000.  The  whole 
banking  capital  of  Europe  is  only  about  $3,- 
500,000,000. 

The  bank  deposits  of  the  United  States  (in- 
cluding discounts)  are  about  $4, 000, 000, 000.  Of 
this  the  savings  bank  deposit  is  $1,739,000,000. 
The  bank  deposits  of  all  Europe  are  only  about 
$6,500,000,000. 

The  stock  of  our  National  Banks  belongs  to 
300,000  people. 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  153 

[*he  expansion  of  the  currency  under  our  sys- 
tem allows  us  the  use  of  about  $61  per  capita. 

The  total  clearing-house  exchanges  in  1894 
were  $45,615,000,000. 

The  banking  facilities  of  the  United  States 
have  increase4  elevenfold  since  1840. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  United  States  is 
obliged  to  ship  abroad  annually  gold  as  fol- 
lows: For  American  travelers,  $100,000,000;  for 
freights  carried  in  foreign  vessels,  $100,000,000; 
dividends  and  interest  011  securities,  $75,000,000; 
profit  of  foreigners  doing  business  here,  $75,- 
000,000;  or  a  grand  total  of  $350,000,000. 

In  1894  the  merchandise  balance  in  our  favor 
was  $264,000,000. 

The  assessed  valuation  of  the  United  States 
in  1880  was  over  $16,902,000,000. 

The  increased  valuation  of  property  in  the 
United  States  from  1880  to  1890  was  from  over 
$13,000,000,000  to  over  $65,000,000,000. 

The  bonded  debt  of  the  railroads  in  the 
United  States  is  over  $6,000,000,000. 

The  world's  product  of  wheat  in  1891  was 
433,000,000  bushels. 

The  world's  product  of  wheat  in  1894  was 
2,645,000,000  bushels. 


154  GOLD    OB   SILVER. 

During  the  same  period  South  America  and 
Eussia  gained  256,000,000  bushels.  Compare 
and  see  if  you  think  silver  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  price  of  wheat  in  1894-95. 

The  production  .of  cotton  in  the  United  States 
has  increased  more  than  10,000,000  bales  total 
in  the  last  five  years,  and  in  other  countries 
proportionately.  Some  of  the  people  of  the 
South  have  gone  to  raising  other  products  and 
are  making  money. 

These  things  will  regulate  themselves.  We 
must  get  out  of  the  grooves  we  are  too  apt  to 
be  in. 


"'COME  INTO  MY  PARLOR,1  SAID  THE  SPIDER  TO  THE  FLY." 

These  are  the  banks  that  are  the  enemies  of  the  poor  people.    The  party  who 

•will  institute  a  charitable  system  of  collateral  banks,  where  the  poor  and 

honest  can  get  money  at  legal  rates^  and  compel  these  fellows  to  go 

into  legitimate  business,  will  do  much  to  relieve  the  stringency. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A    CONDENSED   OUTLINE   OF  THE   PRIMARY  MONEY 
SYSTEMS    OF    THE    PRINCIPAL    COUN- 
TRIES   OF    THE    WORLD. 

**  T^HE  value  or  purchasing  power  of  gold 
I  is*  the  same  throughout  the  civilized 
world."  Exchanges  between  most  countries 
are  made  by  weight  and  on  the  basis  of  pure 
gold.  Metal  nine-hundred-thousandths  fine  is 
the  grade  generally  used. 

England. — Great  Britain  demonetized  sil- 
ver June  22,  1816,  since  which  time  they  have 
been  on  a  gold  single  standard,  coining  silver 
only  on  government  account  and  limiting  its 
legal-tender  value  to  £2,  or  about  $10.  Their 
gold  coins  are  legal  tender  to  any  amount. 

The  Latin  Union,  i.  e.,  France  and  its 
Colonies,  Belgium,  Switzerland,  Italy  and 
Greece. — This  combination  was  first  formed 
by  a  monetary  convention  December  22,  1865, 
with  the  exception  of  Greece,  which  united  in 
1867. 


156  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

They  all  accepted  the  double  standard  then 
in  use  in  France  of  15|  to  1,  and  free  coinage 
at  that  ratio.  Prior  to  the  convention  of  1865 
both  metals  had  been  full  legal  tender,  but  at 
that  convention  the  fineness  of  the  subsidiary 
coins  was  reduced  and  their  legal  tender 
values  and  coinage  limited,  and  they  were 
coined  only  on  government  account.  The  coin- 
age of  the  5-franc  silver  pieces  and  gold  was 
unlimited.  This  piece  is  worth  93 ^  cents  in 
our  money  at  the  .rate  silver  is  coined  in 
United  States.  They  limit  the  coinage  of  sub- 
sidiary pieces  to  six  francs  per  capita. 

The  agreement  made  at  the  convention  of 
1865  was  to  last  fifteen  years,  and  provided 
tha,t  each  state  should  redeem  its  own  coins  in 
gold  or  5-franc  pieces  for  a  term  two  years 
beyond  the  termination  of  the  contract,  each 
state  to  receive  at  its  public  treasury  all  full 
legal-tender  coins  of  any  other.  Subsidiary 
coins  limited  to  100  francs. 

In  1872,  Germany  having  practically  demon- 
etized silver,  it  flowed  into  the  mints  of  this 
union  and  drew  out  the  gold.  In  1874  the 
coinage  of  the  5-franc  piece  was  limited,  and  in 
1878  suspended  altogether. 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  157 

The  convention  in  1878  extended  the  com- 
pact to  1885,  at  which  time  it  was  extended 
indefinitely,  providing,  however,  that  after 
1891  it  could  be  cancelled  upon  one  year's 
notice. 

At  the  last  convention  the  free  coinage  of 
the  5-franc  piece  was  permitted,  but  free 
coinage  has  not  been  resumed  because  the  pro- 
vision made  it  obligatory  upon  each  state  to 
redeem  all  its  own  silver  circulating  in  any 
other  state  in  gold,  and  the  silver  of  one  state 
was  not  to  be  received  by  the  treasurer  of 
another,  as  before.  If  the  ugion  is  terminated 
each  country  must  redeem  all  silver  circulating 
in  any  other  in  gold,  with  some  modifications 
regarding  Belgium  and  Switzerland.  All  bal- 
ances due  are  to  be  paid  in  gold.  France,  on 
account  of  its  commercial  advantages,  has  the 
best  of  the  others. 

Although  there  is  no  agreement  with  other 
countries,  Southern  Europe  is  practically  (by 
custom)  on  the  same  basis  as  these  countries. 
Paper  money  is  largely  used  in  France  and  is 
full  legal  tender  so  long  as  the  Bank  of  France 
maintains  specie  payment.  France  has  a  large 
gold  reserve. 


158  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

Germany. — The  law  of  1871,  supplemented 
by  the  law  of  1873,  changed  Germany  from  a 
single  standard  silver  country  to  a  single  stand 
ard  gold  nation. 

Gold  is  full  legal  tender.  The  ancient 
thaler 's,  German  coins. of  silver,  have  not  all 
been  withdrawn  from  circulation  and  are  still 
allowed  to  circulate  as  full  legal  tender.  The 
subsidiary  silver  coins  are  a  limited  legal  ten- 
der and  their  coinage  is  limited  to  a  per  capita 
circulation  and  are  redeemable  in  gold  at  the 
public  treasury. 

They  use  gold  certificates  or  treasury  notes 
as  a  circulating  medium,  backed  by  a  "war 
chest "  of  gold.  Notes  are  also  issued  by  the 
Imperial  Bank  and  its  branches;  this  circulation 
is  limited  to  three  times  their  metallic  reserve. 
This  bank,  though  private,  is  under  govern- 
ment supervision.  The  charter  and  the  system 
is  fixed  for  a  term  of  years. 

Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark  (the 
Scandinavian  Union). — These  countries  were 
each  on  a  double  standard  system  of  its  own 
until  1875,  when  the  depreciation  of  silver 
caused  them  to  adopt  the  single  gold  standard 
and  to  form  a  union.  Gold  alone  is  full  legal 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  159 

tender.  Silver  is  coined  upon  government 
account,  and  only  in  subsidiary  pieces  with 
limited  legal  tender  qualities,  and  all  are  re- 
deemable in  gold. 

Bank  notes  are  supplied  by  one  bank  of  issue 
in  each  country. 

Netherlands.— -Holland  before  1816  was  sin- 
gle silver  standard  ;  at  that  time  she  became  a 
double  standard  country  again,  returning  to 
single  silver  standard  in  1847,  and  back  to  the 
use  of  both  metals  in  1875.  Silver  has  only 
been  coined  on  government  account  since 
1877. 

The  subsidiary  coins  are  of  inferior  silver, 
and  very  cheap  paper  money  is  issued  by  the 
government,  the  amount  being  limited. 

The  Bank  of  Netherlands  also  issues  notes, 
the  amount  of  which  is  limited  by  its  gold  and 
silver  reserve.  It  has  purchased  no  silver 
since  1872.  Its  charter  expires  in  1 914.  It  is 
a  private  institution,  but  its  officers  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  king. 

Austria-Hungary. — Single  gold  standard. 
Was  single  silver  standard  until  1892.  Uses 
silver  as  subsidiary  coins,  and  only  coins  it  on 
government  account.  Has  not  coined  silver 


160  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

except  on  government  account  since  1879, 
although  silver  was  the  standard  until  '92. 
They  use  paper  as  a  part  of  their  circulating 
medium. 

Spain. — Uses  a  system  similar  to  the  Latin 
Union.  Suspended  silver  coinage  in  1878,  ex- 
cept on  government  account. 

Portugal. — Single  gold  standard  since  1854. 
Silver  coined  only  on  government  account,  and 
is  limited  legal  tender.  Bank  notes  supplied  by 
eight  banks. 

Russia. — The  standard  unit  is  the  silver 
rouble.  But  gold  is  extensively  coined  upon 
the  ratio  of  15£  to  1.  Paper  is  the  actual  me- 
dium of  exchange  and  is  full  legal  tender.  The 
government  has  retained  most  of  the  gold  pro- 
duced by  its  mines  in  recent  years.  Specie  pay- 
ments have  been  suspended  since  1855.  Gold  is 
at  a  premium  of  48  per  cent.  Subsidiary  coins 
have  a  limited  legal  tender  value  except  in 
government  payments.  With  specie  payment 
suspended  since  '55  they  only  have  a  gold 
reserve  of  380  millions  and  4  millions  in  silver. 

Turkey. — Its  position  is  legally  bimetallic, 
but  it  is  generally  classed  as  single  gold  stand- 
ard. The  silver  coins  are  debased.  Their 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  161 


paper  currency  was  repudiated  from  1876  to 
1881. 

Roumania. — Single  gold  standard.  Silver 
surplus  sold  in  1890.  Bank  notes  are  issued 
by  the  National  Bank  ;  the  circulation  is  lim- 
ited to  2J  of  paper  to  1  of  coin. 

Servia. — Has  used  the  system  of  the  Latin 
Union  since  1865.     They  have  no  mint.     Na 
tional  bank  issues  are  limited  to  three   times 
the  metallic  reserve. 

Bulgaria. — Adheres  to  system  of  Latin 
Union,  but  is  not  a  member.  Notes  are  issued 
by  the  National  Bank. 

British  India. — Gold  not  a  legal  tender, 
but  highly  prized.  There  is  no  limit  to  the 
coinage  of  gold.  A  mint  fee  of  one  per  cent 
is  charged.  Mints  were  closed  to  the  coinage 
of  silver  in  1893  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing a  single  gold  standard,  but  the  plan  has 
not  been  fully  carried  out.  Silver,  however, 
since  has  only  been  coined  on  government  ac- 
count. Paper  currency  is  issued  by  the  gov- 
ernment. Gold  is  hoarded  and  used  as  orna- 
ments. 

Ceylon.  —  Single  silver  standard.  Bank 
notes  are  issued  against  silver  reserve.  Only 


162  GOLD    OR    SILVER, 

about  one-third  of  its  silver  coin  is  in  circu- 
lation. 

.Hony-Kong  — Single  silver  standard.  The 
Mexican  dollar  is  the  basis.  The  Hong  Kong 
and  Shanghai  Banks  issue  notes  for  the  whole 
"  East,"  limited  to  the  capital  stock,  which  is 
$10,000,000.  A  reserve  of  one-third  must  be 
kept  on  hand. 

Japan. — Classed  as  a  double-standard  coun- 
try, but  is  more  nearly  a  single  silver  standard. 
The  Bank  of  Japan  issues  notes  redeemable 
in  silver.  The  bank  is  permitted  to  hold  gold 
as  well  as  silver  against  these  notes.  The  bank 
can  issue  notes  to  any  amount  against  specie 
or  bullion. 

China* — Single  silver  standard  Mexican  dol- 
lars used  largely,  subsidiary  coins  macle  by  cut- 
ting or  dividing  the  unit.  Much  of  its  small 
coin  is  made  out  of  brass  and  cheap  metals. 
Until  recently  they  had  no  mints.  Their  own 
coins  are  known  as  "  cash/'  The  majority  of 
the  people  use  them  only  in  their  daily  trans- 
actions. Foreign  bank  notes  circulate,  and  in 
some  of  the  provinces  local  bankers  issue 
paper  currency. 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  163 

French  Tndo-Cfiina.-^-^Jse  Mexican  sil- 
ver dollars,  also  bank  notes. 

Persia. — Eated  as  a  double- standard  coun- 
try, but  in  practice  a  single  silver  standard 
prevails,  and  these  coins  are  debased.  Notes 
are  issued  only  by  the  Imperial  Bank  and  its 
branches,  redeemable  only  at  the  place  of  issue. 

Slam. — Formerly  used  cowries  or  shells. 
Silver  is  now  the  real  standard.  Bank  notes 
issued  by  some  colonial  banks  of  Great  Britain 
circulate. 

Korea.  —  Currency  consists  of  Japanese 
coins.  Mexican  dollars  and  copper  "cash" 
similar  to  China. 

-Effl/lrf* — Single  gold  standard  since  1885. 
Gold  alone  is  legal  tender.  Silver  is  a  limited 
legal  tender.  Paper  money  is  not  issued  in 
Egypt. 

Algeria.— Belongs  to  France  and  uses  their 
system. 

Canada  — Single  gold  standard.  Has  no 
gold  coinage.  United  States  and  British  gold 
are  legal  tender  for  full  amounts.  Subsidi- 
ary silver  coins  are  supplied  by  British  mints. 
Paper  is  really  the  circulating  medium. 

Newfo  u  n  'Hand. — Single     gold     standard. 


164:  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

Silver  limited  legal  tender.  Notes  were  for- 
merly provided  by  two  local  banks,  but  on  ac- 
count of  their  failing  in  1892,  they  are  at  pres- 
ent dependent  upon  Canadian  banks. 

British  West  Indies. — Single  gold  stand- 
ard. Uses  system  of  mother  country,  although 
accounts  are  kept  quite  largely  in  dollars  and 
cents.  Gold  coins  of  the  United  States  are  ac- 
cepted everywhere.  The  active  circulation  is 
British  subsidiary  coins  and  bank  notes. 

Cuba  and  Porto  Rico. — Uses  money  sys- 
tem of  mother  country,  although  United  States 
gold  is  accepted. 

Haiti. — Adopted  monetary  system  of  the 
Latin  Union.  Their  principal  currency,  how- 
ever, consists  of  irredeemable  notes  and  subsidi- 
ary and  minor  coins.  Gold  coins  of  the  United 
States  are  used  to  pay  duties. 

Santo  Domingo.— Single  gold  standard. 
Subsidiary  coin  redeemable  in  gold.  Our  dol- 
lar is  their  standard.  The  Mexican  dollar  is 
rated  by  them  as  fifty  cents.  Bank  notes  cir- 
culate. Their  stock  of  money  is  small. 

Mexico. — Single  silver  standard.  They 
make  a  business  of  coining  silver  and  export- 
ing it  to  the  Orient.  They  have  eleven  mints. 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  165 

Their  bank  notes  circulate  based  on  the  value 
of  their  silver  dollar ;  debased  gold  is  also 
coined. 

Central  America. — Single  silver  standard. 
Gold  coins  are  legal,  but  not  in  use. 

Brazil. — Adheres  to  system  of  mother 
country.  Single  gold  standard  prevails. 
Paper  circulates  almost  exclusively.  Gold  is 
at  a  premium. 

Uruguay. — Single  gold  standard  and  gold 
is  at  a  premium. 

Paraguay. — Legally  double  standard,  but 
actually  has  nothing  but  poor  paper  currency. 
Gold  has  been  quoted  as  high  as  660. 

Argentine  Republic. — Adopted  a  system 
imitating  the  Latin  Union.  Gold  is  at  a  pre- 
mium. 

Chili* — Has  tried  to  adopt  single  gold 
standard,  but  actually  is  obliged  to  use  silver  as 
well.  The  facts  are,  she  uses  paper  almost  ex- 
clusively. Gold  is  quoted  at  a  high  premium. 

Peru. — Single  silver-  standard.  Gold  is 
coined  on  basis  of  Latin  Union. 

Bolivia. — Silver  standard  in  theory.  Coins 
gold  on  basis  of  Latin  Union,  but  actually 
coins  none  and  has  none  in  circulation. 


166  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

Ecuador. — Single  silver  standard.  Bank 
notes  circulate. 

Colombia. — Single  silver  standard.  Actu- 
ally country  is  now  on  a  paper  basis. 

Venezuela. — Double  standard  Latin  Union 
system.  Bank  notes  circulate  in  limited  quan- 
tities. 

The  Guianas. — The  old  Dutch  system  pre- 
vails. No  gold  circulates. 

Australasia. — System  of  Great  Britain 
prevails  quite  generally. 

NOTE.— It  will  be  noticed  that  all  half-civilized  countries, 
without  they  are  under  some  civilized  power,  use  the  single 
silver  standard,  or,  even  worse,  the  baser  metals  or  paper. 


and  Hi? 


The  advocates  of  free  coinage  say  we  need 
more  money  per  capita.  They  contend  that  free 
silver  would  give  us  more.  Statistics  show  us 
that  all  free  silver  countries  have  less  money  per 
capita  than  gold  standard  countries.  The  gold 
is  at  once  driven  out  or  hoardea.  They  also  as- 
sert that  prices  would  be  higher  if  the  mints 
manufactured  more  money.  The  quantity  of 
money  has  nothing  to  do  with  prices,  "no  more 
than  has  the  speed  of  a  train  upon  the  length  of 
a  mile."  Supply  and  demand  regulates  prices. 
If  Jack  had  eaten  a  good  breakfast,  would  he  eat 
another,  and  pay  a  big  price  for  it  because  he 
happened  to  have  the  cash  in  his  "  inside 
pocket?'*  If  the  United  States  Treasury  was 
full  of  cheap  dollars,  would  that  help  the  laborer 
or  the  man  who  had  goods  to  sell  ?  It  is  easy  to 
see  that  a  dollar  of  one-half  the  intrinsic  value  of 
our  present  dollar  would  rightfully  only  possess 
one  half  its  purchasing  power.  In  that  case,  how 
much  better  off  would  we  be  with  twice  as  many  ? 
The  office  of  money  is  to  measure  and  rate  values. 
It  rates  the  value  of  the  commodities  we  trade 
with  each  other.  Are  you  sure  wages  would  be 
doubled  if  dollars  were  only  half  as  valuable  as 
now?  The  function  of  money  is  confounded  with 
that  of  merchandise.  The  latter  ultimately 
reaches  the  consumer  and  disappears  from  the 
market  altogether.  Money  has  an  indefinite 
repeating  power,  the  same  as  the  yard  stick. 
One  dollar  pays  a  thousand  dollars'  obligations 
when  used  a  thousand  times. 


NOTE. — All  capitalists  and  creditors  have  an- 
ticipated a  possible  change  to  the  silver  standard, 
and  have  prepared  for  it  as  well  as  thej7  could. 
They,  for  several  years,  have  inserted  in  all 
their  leases  and  contracts,  "PAYABLE  IN 
GOLD  OR  ITS  EQUIVALENT." 


APPENDIX. 


The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Speaks 
on  Currency. 


THE  WAVE  OF  DEPRESSION. 

There  has  never  been  a  time  since  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War  and  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  growing  out  of  it  when  passion  and 
prejudice  exerted  such  a  powerful  influence  in 
controlling  the  action  of  the  people  upon  polit- 
ical and  economic  questions  as  they  have  during 
the  last  two  years.  A  great  wave  of  depression 
has  swept  over  the  whole  industrial,  commercial 
and  financial  world,  more  injurious  in  its  effects 
in  some  places  than  in  others,  but  entailing 
great  loss  and  distress  nearly  everywhere.  It 
did  not  begin  twenty  years  ago,  as  some  of  our 
friends  are  in  the  habit  of  asserting,  but  less 
than  five  years  ago.  Its  first  serious  effects 
were  felt  in  Argentina,  where  the  people  and 
the  government,  notwithstanding  the  warnings 


168  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

of  experience  in  all  ages,  determined  to  try 
again  the  experiment  of  a  cheap  and  inflated 
currency.  It  failed,  of  course,  as  it  always 
has  and  always  will  wherever  tried,  and  its 
failure,  by  reason  of  the  extensive  commercial 
and  financial  connection  between  that  country 
and  English  capitalists,  produced  a  crisis  which 
seriously  involved  many  of  the  great  financial 
institutions  in  Europe  and  had  a  depressing 
influence  in  all  the  money  markets  of  other 
countries ;  for,  in  these  days  of  rapid  communi- 
cation and  close  commercial  relations,  an  injury 
to  credit  in  any  part  of  the  globe  is  immediately 
felt  all  around  the  world.  Foreign  holders  of 
our  securities,  in  order  to  procure  means  to 
meet  their  obligations  at  home  and  in  Argentina, 
sent  them  here  in  large  amounts  for  redemption 
or  sale,  and  consequently,  the  feeling  of  appre- 
hension and  uncertainty  which  already  existed 
to  a  considerable  extent  was  intensified  in  all 
the  great  centers  of  trade  and  finance.  But  if 
our  own  domestic  affairs  had  been  wisely  and 
economically  conducted,  our  people  would  have 
soon  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this  foreign 
disturbance.  We  possessed  all  the  essential 
elements  of  prosperity,  except  a  sound  and 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  169 

reliable  financial  system,  and  that  we  might 
have  secured  within  a  reasonable  time  ;  or,  at 
least,  we  might  have  greatly  improved  our 
condition  in  this  respect,  if  political  or  party 
considerations  had  n6t  influenced  our  legis- 
lation. It  is  true  that  our  revenue  laws  were 
not  in  a  satisfactory  condition,  but  they  had 
been  in  force  a  long  time  and  the  people  had 
been  compelled  to  adjust  their  business  to 
them.  .  .  . 

FREE  COINAGE  QUESTION. 

Whether  we  shall  continue  to  preserve  our 
existing  monetary  system,  under  which  all  the 
dollars  in  use,  whether  they  be  gold,  silver  or 
paper,  possess  equal  purchasing  power  in  the 
markets,  or  provide  by  law  for  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  dollars  containing 
412J  grains  of  standard  silver,  and  make  them 
the  units  and  measures  of  value  in  the  exchange 
of  commodities  in  the  payment  of  debts,  is  by 
far  the  most  important  question  that  has  been 
presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  American 
people  during  this  generation,  and  that  question 
now  confronts  us. 

The  free  coinage  of  silver  and  the  substitution 


170  GOLD   OE   SILVER. 

of  a  new  unit  and  measure  of  value  for  the 
existing  one  in  the  business  transactions  of  the 
country  is  not  an  ordinary  experiment  which 
can  be  safely  tried  to-day  and  abandoned 
to-morrow  if  found  injurious,  because  the 
immediate  consequences  of  such  a  step  would 
be  so  far-reaching  and  so  enduring  that  they 
would  continue  to  be  felt  for  years  after  the 
policy  had  been  reversed.  It  is  incumbent, 
therefore,  upon  those  who  insist  upon  the 
adoption  of  this  revolutionary  policy  to  show 
plainly  and  conclusively  in  advance  not  only 
that  it  would  result  in  no  injury,  but  that  it 
would  be  positively  beneficial,  for  if  not  posi- 
tively beneficial  the  change  would  at  least  be 
wholly  useless.  This  cannot  be  done  by  appeals 
to  the  excited  passions  and  prejudices  of  the 
people,  by  attempts  to  array  one  class  of  our 
citizens  or  one  section  of  our  country  against 
another,  or  by  loose  and  extravagant  state- 
ments unsupported  by  facts  and  reasons.  The 
questions  involved  are  too  serious,  the  interests 
to  be  affected  are  too  large,  and  the  common 
sense  of  the  people  is  too  strong  to  justify,  or 
even  excuse,  this  course  of  treatment.  The 
lalegation,  even  if  it  were  true,  that  a  great 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  171 

crime  was  surreptitiously  committed  in  1873, 
or  at  any  other  time,  does  not  prove,  or  even 
conduce  to  prove,  that  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
at  a  ratio  of  16  to  1  would  be  beneficial  to  the 
country  under  the  conditions  now  existing. 
But,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  true  that  the  act  of 
February  12,  1873,  which  made  the  gold  dollar 
the  unit  of  value  and  dropped  the  standard 
silver  dollar  from  coinage,  was  passed  by 
stealth,  or  that  its  purpose  or  effect  was  to 
deprive  the  people  of  the  use  of  any  coin  then 
in  use  or  then  in  existence  in  this  country. 
That  bill  was  pending  in  Congress  for  nearly 
three  years  and  was  under  consideration  during 
five  sessions  of  that  body;  it  was  distinctly 
recommended  in  two  reports  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Director  of  the  Mint, 
and  it  was  officially  printed  and  laid  on  the 
desks  of  members  of  the  House  and  of  the 
Senate  thirteen  different  times  before  the  final 
vote  was  taken  on  it.  It  was  read  at  length  in 
the  o^oen  Senate  several  times,  and  in  the  House 
at  least  once,  as  shown  by  the  record  ;  it  was 
reported  from  committees  seven  times,  and  the 
discussion  upon  it  in  the  House  fills  sixty-six 
columns  of  the  Congressional  Globe,  and  in  the 


172  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

Senate  seventy-eight  columns.  As  first  report- 
ed to  the  Senate  and  passed  by  that  body  in 
January,  1871,  the  bill  did  not  provide  for  the 
coinage  of  any  silver  dollar  whatever,  but 
expressly  limited  the  coinage  of  that  metal 
to  subsidiary  pieces — half  dollars,  quarters  and 
dimes.  In  this  form,  without  any  provision 
for  the  coinage  of  any  kind  of  silver  dollar? 
the  bill  was  passed  in  the  Senate  on  the  tenth 
day  of  January,  1871,  upon  the  call  of  the 
yeas  and  nays,  and  the  record  shows  that  two 
Senators  from  Kentucky,  Hon.  Garret  Davis 
and  Hon.  Thomas  0.  McCreery;  the  dis- 
tinguished Democratic  Senator  from  Ohio, 
Hon.  Allen  G.  Thurman ;  the  present  Senator 
from  Nevada,  Hon.  William  M.  Stewart,  to- 
gether with  all  the  other  Senators  from  the 
Pacific  Slope,  voted  in  the  affirmative,  while 
Senators  Sherman,  Morrill,  and  twelve  others 
voted  in  the  negative.  The  reason  given  by 
Mr.  Sherman  for  voting  Jagainst  the  bill  was 
that  the  Senate  had,  in  obedience  to  the 
demands  of  the  Senator  from  the  Pacific  Co>ast, 
so  amended  the  bill,  after  it  was  reported  from 
the  committee,  as  to  abolish  the  charge  of  one- 
fifth  of  one  per  cent  for  coining  gold,  thus 


GOLD   OR    SILVER.  173 

,/  ^ 

making  the  coinage  of  that  metal    entirely 
free. 

The  bill  went  to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, but  it  was  not  disposed  of  during  that 
Congress,  and  at  the  first  session  of  the  next 
Congress  Mr.  Kelly,  of  Pennsylvania,  intro- 
duced it  in  the  House  and  it  was  referred  to  a 
committee.  So  far  as  the  coinage  of  the  silver 
dollar  was  aff ected,  the  bill  introduced  by  him 
was  precisely  the  same  as  the  one  that  had 
passed  the  Senate — that  is,  it  made  no  provi- 
sion for  such  a  coin.  However,  when  the  bill 
was  finally  reported  back  from  the  committee 
to  the  House  it  was  so  amended  as  to  provide 
for  the  coinage  of  a  subsidiary  piece,  to  be 
called  a  dollar,  and  to  contain  384  grains  of 
standard  silver,  the  same  as  the  French  five- 
franc  piece,  and  it  was  to  be  a  legal  tender 
to  the  extent  of  five  dollars  and  no  more. 
In  this  form  it  passed  the  House  by  a  very 
large  majority — in  fact,  the  opposition  to  it 
was  so  weak  that  the  yeas  and  nays  were  not 
even  called.  The  Senate  struck  out  the  five- 
franc  subsidiary  dollar  and  substituted  for  it 
another  subsidiary  coin,  called  the  trade  dollar, 
containing  420  grains  of  standard  silver,  and 


174  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

provided  that  it  should  be  a  legal  tender  to  the 
amount  of  five  dollars  and  no  more.  A  com- 
mittee of  conference  was  appointed,  the  Senate 
amendment  was  agreed  to  and  the  bill  became 
a  law  by  the  approval  of  President  Grant  on 
the  twelfth  day  of  February,  1873.  This  brief 
historical  statement  of  the  proceedings,  which 
is  fully  sustained  by  the  official  record,  shows 
that  it  was  well  understood  in  Congress  that 
the  old  standard  silver  dollar  of  412£  grains 
was  not  to  be  thereafter  coined  at  our  mints, 
and  that  the  only  difference  of  opinion  that 
ever  existed,  even  temporarily,  between  the 
Senate  and  the  House  was  whether  they  would 
substitute  in  its  place  a  subsidiary  coin  con- 
taining 384  grains,  or  a  subsidiary  coin  contain- 
ing 420  grains  of  silver.  No  proposition  was 
made  in  either  body  to  continue  the  coinage  of 
the  old  dollar  or  to  make  any  silver  coin  the  unit 
of  value  or  a  full  legal  tender  in  the  payment 

of  debts. 

THE, ACT  OP  1873. 

The  plain  truth  is  that  this  act  of  1873* 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  so  much  misap- 
prehension and  denunciation,  was  simply  a 
legal  recognition  of  a  monetary  condition 


GOLD  OR  SILVER.  175 

which  had  existed  in  fact  in  this  country  for 
about  thirty-five  years,  or  ever  since  a  short 
time  after  the  passage  of  the  coinage  act  of 
1834.  From  about  the  year  1838  until  after 
the  passage  of  the  Bland- Allison  act  in  1878, 
no  silver  dollars  were  in  circulation  in  this 
country,  and  our  whole  currency  consisted  of 
gold  coins  and  bank  notes,  except  from  1862  to 
1878,  when  our  active  circulation,  outside  of 
California  and  its  neighboring  territory,  was 
all  paper. 

There  was  during  the  latter  period  about 
$25,000,000  in  gold  in  circulation  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  the  United  States  was  collecting 
customs  dues  in  gold  and  using  it  in  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  on  the  public  debt,  but  there 
was  no  silver  in  circulation  anywhere  in  this 
country,  not  even  the  light-weight  subsidiary 
coins.  The  value  of  the  United  States  note  or 
greenback  was  always  measured  by  gold  and 
not  by  silver,  and  commodities  had  a  gold 
price  and  a  paper  price,  but  never  a  silver 
price,  because  silver,  except  the  half-dollars, 
quarters  and  dimes  coined  under  the  act  of 
1853,  had  been  out  of  use  here  for  more  than 
twenty  years  before  the  commencement  of  the 


176  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

war,  and  even  these  subsidiary  coins  had  not 
been  in  use  for  eleven  years  prior  to  1873.  Our 
own  monetary  history  had  already  furnished 
two  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  operation 
of  the  natural  law  under  which  the  coins 
which  are  overvalued  by  statute  always  drive 
out  of  circulation  the  coins  which  are  under- 
valued. Our  own  experience  had  again  dem- 
onstrated what  the  history  of  the  world 
showed — that  whenever  the  coinage  laws  of 
any  country  permit  the  free  coinage  of  both 
metals  with  full  legal-tender  qualities  at  a 
ratio  of  value  which  does  not  conform  sub- 
stantially to  their  intrinsic  or  commercial  ratio 
in  the  markets  of  the  world,  both  kinds  of 
coin  cannot  be  kept  in  circulation  at  the  same 
time.  The  reason  is  that,  both  being  full  legal 
tender,  the  least  valuable  coin  will  always  be 
used  in  making  payments,  and  will  become 
the  sole  measure  of  value,  and  the  most  valu- 
able will  be  hoarded  or  sent  out  of  the  country 
into  the  markets  where  its  real  value  can  be 
obtained. 

THE   QUESTION   OF    PARITY.  ' 

Our  first  coinage  law  was  passed  in  1792,  and 
it  provided  for  full  legal-tender  gold  and  silver 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  177 

coins  at  the  ratio  of  15  to  1 — that  is  to  say,  fif- 
teen pounds  of  silver  were  to  be  considered  as 
equal  in  value  to  one  pound  of  gold  ;  and  the 
weights  of  the  coins  were  adjusted  to  that  rule. 
In  deciding  upon  this  ratio,  neither  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton, who  recommended  it,  nor  the  Congress 
which  adopted  it  supposed  they  were  arbitra- 
rily establishing  the  relative  values  of  the  two 
metals,  for  no  legislative  authority  could  do 
that ;  but  it  was  supposed  that  they  were  sim- 
ply adopting  and  utilizing  in  the  statute  law 
the  existing  intrinsic  or  commercial  ratio  be- 
tween them.  A  brief  experience,  however, 
showed  that  a  mistake  had  been  made,  and 
the  inevitable  result  followed.  It  soon  became 
evident  that  fifteen  pounds  of  silver  were  not 
in  fact  equal  in  value  to  one  pound  of  gold, 
and  that,  no  matter  what  words  were  printed 
in  the  statute  book,  the  people  in  the  transac- 
tion of  their  business  wholly  disregarded  the 
legal  ratio  and  treated  the  metals  according  to 
their  relative  commercial  value,  and  that  they 
would  not  exchange  one  pound  of  gold  for 
fifteen  pounds  of  silver,  either  in  coin  or  bull- 
ion, nor  use  gold  coins  as  money  when  the 
amount  of  bullion  in  the  coin  was  worth  in  the 


178  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

market  more  than  the  coin  itself.  In  short, 
silver  had  been  overvalued  and  gold  had  been 
undervalued  in  the  law,  and  the  consequence 
was  that  by  the  year  1812  gold  had  disappeared 
from  the  country,  and  from  that  time  on  until 
after  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1834  the  United 
States  had  practically  silver  monometallism. 

In  May,  1805,  President  Jefferson  stopped 
the  coinage  of  the  silver  dollar,  and  during  a 
period  of  thirty-one  years  thereafter  not  a 
single  standard  silver  dollar  was  coined  at  the 
mints  of  the  United  States,  but  under  the  act 
of  1792  the  subsidiary  coins  were  of  full  weight 
as  compared  with  the  dollar  and  were  legal 
tender,  and  these  coins,  with  Spanish  dollars, 
French  crowns,  or  five-franc  pieces  and  bank 
notes,  constituted  our  circulating  medium. 
Gold  having  disappeared  from  circulation. 
Congress  determined,  in  1834,  to  bring  it  back 
by  changing  the  ratio.  The  act  of  1834,  sup- 
plemented by  the  act  of  1837,  provided  that 
the  legal  ratio  should  be  16  to  1  ;  that  is,  that 
sixteen  pounds  of  silver  in  the  coins  should  be 
equal  to  one  pound  of  gold  in  the  coins,  and  the 
effect  of  this  was  to  drive  silver  out  of  circula- 
tion and  substitute  gold  in  its  place,  because 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  179 

silver  was  undervalued  and  gold  was  over- 
valued in  the  statute.  One  pound  of  gold, 
coined  or  uncoined,  was  not,  in  fact,  worth 
intrinsically  or  commercially  sixteen  pounds  of 
silver,  coined  or  uncoined,  and  therefore  the 
coins  of  the  two  metals  could  not  circulate  to- 
gether at  that  ratio.  The  authors  and  sup- 
porters of  this  law  well  knew  what  the  effect 
of  such  a  legal  ratio  would  be  in  case  it  did  not 
contain  the  commercial  ratio,  but  the  object  in 
view  was  the  restoration  of  gold  to  the  circula- 
tion, and  all  other  considerations  were  subordi- 
nate to  that.  Doubtless,  many  of  them  still 
believed  that  the  so-called  standard  could  be 
maintained,  and  that  the  coins  of  the  two 
metals  could  be  kept  in  circulation  together  at 
the  new  ratio.  But  they  were  mistaken .  Silver 
went  out  and  gold  came  in.  The  gold  basis 
was  established  in  1834,  by  the  practical  opera- 
tion of  the  ratio,  just  as  completely  and  effectu- 
ally as  if  it  had  been  expressly  declared  in  the 
statute.  Here,  then,  were  two  experiments  in 
the  free  coinage  of  the  two  metals  in  this  coun- 
try, covering  a  period  of  eighty-one  years,  at 
legal  ratios  very  nearly  corresponding  to  the 
real  relative  values  in  the  commercial  world. 


180  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

and  they  both  failed — in  one  case  because  silver 
was  overvalued,  and  in  the  other  case  because 
gold  was  overvalued.  A  very  small  percentage 
of  difference  between  the  legal  ratio  and  the 
commercial  ratio  has  always  been  found  suffi- 
cient in  modern  times  to  drive  the  undervalued 
metal  entirely  out  and  substitute  the  other,  or 
paper  based  on  the  other,  in  its  place,  and  no 
Congress  or  Parliament  can  repeal  or  alter  the 
natural  law  of  trade  by  which  this  movement 
of  the  metals  is  governed. 

SUBSIDIARY   COINS. 

In  1853  Congress,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
circulation  of  subsidiary  coins — half-dollars, 
quarters  and  dimes — reduced  the  weight  of  the 
metal  contained  in  them  and  made  them  legal 
tender  only  in  payment  of  sums  not  exceeding 
$5  in  amount.  Under  this  act  the  value  of  the 
bullion  contained  in  two  half-dollars,  four 
quarters  or  ten  dimes  was  not  equal  to  the 
value  of  the  bullion  contained  in  either  a  gold 
or  silver  dollar,  and  consequently  these  small 
limited  legal-tender  coins  went  into  circulation 
and  remained  in  use  until  expelled  by  the 
cheaper  paper  currency  issued  during  the  war ; 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  181 

% 

not  being  full  legal  tender,  they  could  not 
drive  out  the  gold  cpins. 

This  was  the  condition  of  our  monetary  sys- 
tem at  the  time  the  act  of  1873  was  passed. 
Our  legal  position  was  bimetallic,  but  our 
actual  measure  of  value  was  gold,  and  our 
actual  circulating  medium  was  paper,  with  a 
purchasing  power  measured  by  the  gold  stand- 
ard. We  had  no  silver  and  it  had  no  influence 
whatever  on  our  prices,  or  on  our  ability  to 
pay  debts.  The  act  of  1873,  therefore,  did  not, 
and  could  not,  take  away  from  the  people  of 
the  United  States  any  advantage  they  then 
possessed,  but  it  did  prevent  the  coinage  of 
full  legal-tender  silver  dollars  thereafter,  and 
the  act  of  1874  destroyed  the  debt-paying 
power  of  the  old  standard  dollar  coined  before 
1873,  except  in  sums  not  exceeding  $5.  If 
there  had  been  ,any  such  dollars  in  circulation 
or  in  existence  here  this  latter  act  would  have 
abridged  the  ability  of  debtors  to  discharge 
their  obligations,  but  as  there  were  none,  it 
had  no  practical  effect  at  that  time. 

Thus  we  remained  until  1878.  We  had  tried 
to  keep  the  legal-tender  coins  of  the  two  met- 
als in  circulation  at  the  same  time  under  a  sys- 


GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

tern  of  free  coinage,  but  had  utterly  failed.  In 
1878  a  new  policy  was  adopted,  and  it  was 
determined  to  restore  the  standard  silver  dollar 
to  the  coinage  and  to  circulation  with  full  legaL 
tender  qualities,  not  by  opening  the  mints  to 
its  free  and  unlimited  coinage  on  individual 
account,  as  is  now  proposed,  but  by  providing 
for  the  purchase  and  coinage  of  not  more  than 
$4,000,000  worth  nor  less  than  $2,000,000  worth 
of  silver  bullion  each  month  by  the  Govern- 
ment itself. 

Under  this  act  and  the  so-called  Sherman  act, 
and  the  act  providing  for  the  recoinage  of  the 
trade  dollars,  there  have  been  coined  at  the 
the  mints  of  the  United  States,  ancf  put  into 
circulation,  during  seventeen  years,  $397,652,- 
873  in  full  legal-tender  standard  silver,  as 
against  $8,030,000  coined  during  the  whole  pre- 
vious existence  of  the  Government — a  period  oi 
eighty-nine  years.  In  other  words,  there  hav< 
been  coined  and  put  into  circulation  among  the 
people,  in  coin  itself  or  in  certificates  issued 
upon  it,  nearly  fifty  times  as  many  full  legal- 
tender  silver  dollars  as  were  produced  at  the 
mints  of  the  United  States  from  1792  to  1878, 
and  yet  some  gentlemen  are  writing  books  and 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  183 

making  speeches  to  convince  their  fellow  citi- 
zens that  silver  is  demonetized  in  this  country. 
There  was  never  in  our  whole  history  one- 
third  as  much  legal-tender  silver  in  use  in  the 
United  States  at  one  time  as  there  is  now,  and 
it  is  used  without  depriving  us  of  all  our  gold, 
which  was  never  done  before.  Silver  is  not 
demonetized  in  this  country,  but  its  coinage 
has  been  so  limited  and  regulated  by  law  and 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  Government  have 
been  so  conducted  that  up  to  the  present  time 
its  purchasing  power  has  been  preserved  and 
its  circulation  to  a  large  amount  has  been 
maintained  concurrently  with  other  forms  of 
money,  notwithstanding  it  has  been  coined  at 
a  ratio  which  does  not  conform  to  the  real 
value  of  the  metal  contained  in  it.  I  repeat 
that  silver  is  not  demonetized,  and  the  question 
presented  to  us  by  the  agitation  now  going  on 
is  not  whether  it  shall  be  demonetized  in  the 
future,  but  whether  the  mints  of  the  United 
States  shall  be  thrown  open  to  all  the  silver  in 
the  world  that  any  individual  or  corporation 
may  desire  to  have  coined,  free  of  charge,  into 
legal- tender  dollars — that  is,  legal  tender  in  the 
United  States  only — at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1.  In 


184:  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

order  to  discuss  this  subject  intelligently  we 
must  understand  distinctly  what  is  proposed 
by  our  opponents,  and  fortunately  there  is  no 
difficulty  upon  this  point. 

THE  RATIO  OF  16  TO  1. 

Free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  full  legal-ten- 
der silver  dollars  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1  means 
that  our  law  shall  be  so  changed  that  any  owner 
of  silver  bullion  may  send  it  to  the  mints 
and  have  it  coined,  at  public  expense,  into  dol- 
lars, each  containing  41 2  J  grains  of  standard 
silver,  the  dollars,  when  coined,  to  be  delivered 
to  the  owner  of  the  bullion,  and  all  the  people 
of  the  United  States  to  be  compelled  by  law  to 
receive  them  as  dollars  in  the  payment  of  debts, 
although  not  intrinsically  worth  more  than 
fifty  cents  each.  The  25.8  grains  of  standard 
gold  contained  in  a  gold  dollar  is  worth  one 
hundred  cents,  or  the  equivalent  of  one  hun- 
dred cents,  all  over  the  world,  in  silver  stand- 
ard countries,  as  well  as  in  gold  standard  coun- 
tries, and  is  worth  just  as  much-  before  it  is 
coined  as  afterwards ;  but  the  412J  grains  of 
standard  silver  contained  in  a  silver  dollar  are 
not  worth  anywhere  in  the  world  more  than 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  185 

about  fifty  cents.  Or,  to  put  the  statement  in 
a  different  form,  sixteen  pounds  of  silver  can- 
not be  exchanged  for  one  pound  of  gold  any- 
where in  the  world,  but  it  requires  about  thirty- 
two  pounds  of  silver  to  procure  one  pound  of 
gold  everywhere.  But  someone  may  say  that 
this  is  not  a  fair  statement,  because  it  measures 
the  value  of  silver  by  gold.  The  answer  to  this 
objection  is  that  the  statement  does  not  at- 
tempt to  measure  the  value  of  either  of  the 
metals,  but  simply  to  compare  them,  one  with 
the  other,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of  making 
the  comparison  the  value  of  gold  is  deter- 
mined by  its  purchasing  power  in  the  markets 
of  the  world,  and  the  value  of  silver  is  deter- 
mined in  the  same  way.  Sixteen  pounds  of  sil- 
ver bullion  will  purchase  only  about  one- 
half  the  quantity  of  commodities  anywhere 
that  one  pound  of  gold  bullion  will  purchase, 
and  this  purchasing  power  is  the  true 
test  of  their  actual  and  relative  values.  In 
the  United  States  sixteen  pounds  of  silver, 
coined  into  dollars,  will  now  purchase  as  much 
as  one  pound  of  gold  coins,  but  this  would  not 
be  the  case  under  a  system  of  free  and  unlimit- 
ed coinage  on  individual  account.  The  coinage 


186  GOLD   OR    SILVER. 

of  silver  dollars  here  has  been  limited  by  law 
for  the  purpose  of  .preventing  an  excessive 
issue,  and  they  have  been  coined  by  the  Govern- 
ment on  its  own  account  and  paid  out  for 
public  purposes  as  dollars  of  full  value,  and 
consequently  the  Government  is  bound  by 
every  consideration  of  good  faith,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  positive  declarations  contained 
in  the  statutes,  to  keep  them  as  good  as  gold; 
or,  in  other  words,  to  maintain  the  parity  of 
the  two  metals;  and  this  it  has  done  and  will 
continue  to  do  as  long  as  the  present  system 
exists.  But  if  the  present  system  is  to  be 
abolished  and  a  new  one  established,  so  that 
private  individuals  and  corporations  can  have 
their  own  bullion  coined  at  the  public  expense, 
and  have  the  coins  delivered  to  them  for  their 
private  use,  the  Government  would  be  under 
no  obligation  whatever,  legal  or  equitable,  to 
keep  them  as  good  as  gold,  and,  in  fact,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  it  to  do  so,  because  the 
coinage  would  be  unlimited,  and  the  volume  of 
silver  in  circulation  would  become  so  great  in 
proportion  to  the  gold  the  Government  could 
procure  that  the  attempt  would  necessarily 
fail 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  187 

The  most  extreme  advocates  of  free  coinage 
have  not  yet  ventured  to  suggest  that  the  Gov- 
ernment would  be  under  any  obligation  to 
guarantee  or  maintain  the  value  of  silver  dol- 
lars coined  without  charge  for  private  parties, 
and  without  such  guarantee  it  is  clear  the  dol- 
lar would  be  worth  no  more  than  the  commer- 
cial value  of  the  bullion  contained  in  it,  just  as 
the  Mexican  dollar  is  now.  I  admit  that  if  the 
United  States  could  coin  without  charge  to  the 
owners  all  the  silver  in  the  world  available  for 
coinage  purposes  41 2^  grains  of  standard  silver 
in  bullion  would  be  worth  as  much  in  this 
country  as  a  silver  dollar ;  but  the  real  question 
is,  What  would  the  silver  dollar  itself  be 
worth  ?  That  it  will  not  be  equal  to  our  pres- 
ent unit  and  standard  of  value  is  not  only 
admitted,  but  openly  urged  as  one  of  the  chief 
arguments  in  favor  of  its  free  coinage.  Every- 
where the  people  are  being  told  that  under  free 
coinage  it  will  require  twice  as  many  dollars  to 
procure  any  given  quantity  of  commodities  as 
are  required  now,  and  this  means,  of  course, 
that  the  money  will  be  only  one-half  as  valua- 
ble as  it  is  now.  When  the  public  judgment 
is  finally  passed  upon  this  subject  I  think  it 


188  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

will  be  found  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  determined  not  to  have  a  depreciated 
dollar,  whether  it  be  gold,  silver  or  paper. 
They  are  undoubtedly  entitled  to  have  for  use 
in  their  business  just  as  good  money  as  any 
other  people  in  the  world  have,  and  no  political 
party  that  attempts  to  deprive  them  of  it  will 
ever  enjoy  their  confidence  or  receive  their  suf- 
frages. 

NOT  UNFRIENDLY  TO  SILVER. 

Those  of  us  who  oppose  the  free  coinage  of 
silver  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1  are  proposing  no 
change  in  the  measure  or  standard  of  value 
now  existing,  nor  are  we  proposing  to  discon- 
tinue the  use  of  silver  as  money.  I  have  never 
been,  and  am  not  now,  unfriendly  to  silver  in 
the  sense  of  desiring  to  see  it  excluded  from 
the  monetary  system  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  any  other  country,  but  I  know  that  it  can- 
not be  kept  in  circulation  along  with  gold  by 
means  of  any  ratio  the  law  of  any  one  country 
may  attempt  to  establish  between  the  two 
metals,  and  that  the  only  way  to  secure  the 
use  of  both  at  the  same  time  is  to  make  one  of 
them  the  standard  of  value  and  so  limit  the 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  189 

coinage  of  the  other  that  the  Government 
which  issues  them  and  receives  them  for  pub- 
lic dues  may  be  able  at  all  times  to  maintain 
their  exchangeability,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly through  the  operation  of  its  fiscal  sys- 
tem. I  am,  therefore,  in  favor  of  the  preser- 
vation of  the  existing  standard  of  value  with 
such  use  of  full  legal-tender  silver  coins,  and 
paper  convertible  into  coin  on  demand,  as  can 
be  maintained  without  impairing  or  endanger- 
ing the  credit  of  the  Government  or  diminish- 
ing the  purchasing  or  debt-paying  power  of  the 
money  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  This  is 
what  I  mean  by  the  terms  " sound  money," 
and,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  what  is  meant  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  opponents  of 
free  coinage  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1. 

This  is  neither  gold  monometallism  nor  silver 
monometallism,  but  it  means  that  one  standard 
or  value  of  measure  shall  be  maintained,  and 
that  all  forms  of  standard  coins  in  use  shall  be 
kept  equal  to  that  standard  in  the  purchase  of 
commodities  and  in  the  payment  of  debts. 
Any  policy  which  would  discontinue  the  use  of 
silver  as  money  by  direct  legal  enactment  or 
by  undervaluing  it  relatively  to  gold  in  the 


190  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

coinage  laws  would  certainly  result  in  practical 
gold  monometallism,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  equally  clear  that  any  policy  which  would 
discontinue  the  use  of  gold  as  money  by  legal 
enactment  or  by  undervaluing  that  metal  rela. 
tively  to  silver  in  the  coinage  laws  would  result 
in  practical  silver  monometallism.  Free  and 
unlimited  coinage  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1  would 
at  once  establish  silver  monometallism,  pure 
and  simple,  for,  as  already  shown,  the  coins  of 
overvalued  metal  will  ultimately  drive  the 
coins  of  the  other  out  of  circulation  and  out  of 
the  country,  even  when  the  legal  ratio  varies 
but  a  small  fraction  from  the  commercial  ratio, 
but  the  expuliion  of  the  undervalued  coin  from 
circulation  would  be  instantaneous,  when  its 
value  is  really  double  the  value  of  the  other. 
How  long  do  you  suppose  the  $625,000,000  of 
gold  in  this  country  would  remain  here  and  be 
used  as  money  under  such  a  policy?  The 
banking  and  other  great  financial  institutions, 
which  own  and  hold  in  their  reserves  much  the 
greater  part  of  this  gold,  would  at  once  sell  it 
at  a  large  premium  for  silver — about  two  dollars 
for  one  dollar — or  they  would  exchange  it  for 
silver  bullion  in  the  market  at  the  ratio  of 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  191 

about  thirty-two  pounds  of  silver  for  each  one 
pound  of  gold,  have  the  thirty-two  pounds  of 
silver  coined  into  dollars  at  the  expense  of  the 
people,  and  with  this  cheap  money  pay  the 
demands  of  their  depositors  and  other  creditors. 
The  masses  of  the  people  cannot  do  this,  for  they 
have  no  gold,  nor  have  they  any  silver  bullion 
to  be  coined  at  the  expense  of  the  Government. 

THE  DEBT-PAYING  PROBLEM. 

But  it  is  said  that,  although  the  masses  of 
the  people  have  no  bullion,  many  of  them  are 
in  debt,  and  that  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
would  increase  prices  and  give  them  more 
money,  thus  enabling  them  to  discharge  their 
obligations  more  easily.  The  merit  of  this 
argument  will  be  judged  by  each  individual, 
according  to  the  view  which  he  may  take  of 
the  nature  of  his  obligations  to  the  people  who 
have  loaned  money  or  sold  property  to  him. 
If  a  man  who  has  borrowed  a  thousand  dollars 
in  gold,  or  its  equivalent,  and  has  promised  to 
pay  it,  or  has  purchased  a  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  another  man's  property  and  has 
promised  to  pay  for  it  in  the  standard  money 
by  law  at  the  date  of  his  contract,, 


192  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

believes  that  it  would  be  just  and  honest  to 
discharge  his  obligation  in  a  new  standard 
worth  only  half  as  much  as  the  money  he  bor- 
rowed or  the  property  he  purchased,  he  would 
appreciate  and  indorse  this  argument,  and  it 
would  be  useless  to  discuss  the  question  with 
him. 

But  if,  as  I  have  already  endeavored  to  show, 
the  immediate  effect  of  the  adoption  of  a  free- 
coinage  policy  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1  would  be 
to  contract  the  currency  to  the  extent  of  about 
$625,000,000,  by  the  withdrawal  of  that  amount 
of  gold  from  circulation  and  from  use  as  the 
basis  of  notes  and  other  forms  of  credit,  prices 
would  not  even  nominally  advance.  On  the 
contrary,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  this  con- 
traction would  greatly  reduce  prices,  because 
it  would  alarm  the  country,  destroy  credit,  and 
undoubtedly  produce  the  most  serious  financial 
disturbance  this  country  has  ever  witnessed. 
Every  depositor  in  the  savings  and  other  banks, 
fearing  that  he  would  ultimately  be  paid  in 
depreciated  silver,  would  immediately  demand 
the  return  of  his  money  and  this  would  compel 
the  banks  to  call  at  once  for  the  payment  of  all 
the  notes  and  other  securities  they  had  dis- 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  193 

counted  for  their  customers,  and  the  contrac- 
tion of  the  currency  would  cause  an  increased 
demand  for  currency  at  the  very  time  when  it 
could  not  be  obtained,  and  thus  the  difficulty  of 
the  situation  would  be  increased  by  both  causes. 
The  banks  would  be  compelled  to  either  sus- 
pend payments  themselves  or  drive  their  cus- 
tomers, who  are  generally  business  men— the 
men  who  give  employment  to  labor  in  every 
community — into  bankruptcy  at  once.  Who 
would  profit  by  this  condition  of  affairs  ?  No- 
body except  the  holders  of  gold  and  the  owners 
of  silver  mines,  the  holders  of  silver  bullion 
and  the  brokers  and  speculators  in  the  stocks 
of  silver-mining  companies.  The  people  who 
owe  debts  and  are  unable  to  pay  them  would 
be  the  ones  to  suffer  most,  while  the  people 
who  owe  no  debts  and  have  money  on  hand 
would  be  the  ones  to  profit  most.  Every  man 
in  debt  would  be  called  upon  to  pay  it 
promptly  when  due ;  there  would  be  no  more 
extensions  of  old  debts,  or  any  new  credits 
given,  because  no  man  could  foretell  what  the 
money  would  be  worth  at  any  time  in  the 
future.  In  this  crash  the  laborer  would  be 
thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  failure  or 


194  GOLD  OR   SILVER. 

suspension  of  his  employer,  the  farmer  would 
receive  less  real  money  for  his  products,  prop- 
erty would  be  sold  at  low  rates  under  judicial 
proceedings  all  over  the  country,  credit  would 
be  destroyed  and  all  industrial  and  commercial 
enterprises  would  stand  still,  awaiting  the  re- 
sult of  the  new  experiment  with  the  monetary 
system.  Of  course,  a  great  country  like  this, 
rich  in  natural  resources,  would  ultimately 
recover  in  some  measure  from  even  such  a  dis- 
aster, but  how  long  a  time  would  be  required 
to  do  so  no  man  can  predict.  All  the  mints  of 
the  United  States,  if  devoted  entirely  to  the 
coinage  of  silver  dollars,  could  produce  only 
about  $40,000,000  per  annum,  and,  therefore, 
with  free  coinage  it  would  require  more  than 
fifteen  years  to  put  silver  dollars  in  the  place 
of  the  gold  we  now  have  and  give  back  to  the 
country  the  same  amount  of  metallic  money 
now  existing.  But,  in  the  meantime,  we 
would  have  a  depreciated  standard  of  value 
with  nominally  higher  prices — after  the  first 
collapse  was  over — on  account  of  the  reduced 
purchasing  power  of  the  dollar,  and  at  the 
same  time  we  would  have  for  a  long  time 
fewer  dollars  to  pay  with.  Common  prudence 


GOLD  OR  SILVE&.  195 

would  dictate  that,  when  any  considerable 
change  is  to  be  made  in  our  monetary  system, 
some  provision  should  be  made  in  advance  of 
the  actual  change  for  a  gradual  transition 
from  the  old  to  the  new  order  of  things ;  a 
transition  period  should  be  provided  for  so  as 
to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  a  sudden  disturb- 
ance of  business  and  contraction  of  the  cur- 
rency ;  but  the  advocates  of  free  coinage  have 
no  such  purpose.  They  propose  to  make  a 
sudden  and  revolutionary  change  in  the  stand- 
ard upon  which  all  existing  contracts  of  the 
people  are  based  and  by  which  all  values  are 
measured,  and  let  the  consequences  take  care 
of  themselves. 

CHANGING  STANDARDS. 

But  suppose  the  change  is  made,  and  that 
the  business  affairs  of  the  country  have Jbeen 
finally  adjusted  to  the  new  standard,  what  will 
be  the  effect  on  our  domestic  trade?  The 
prices  of  all  things  will  be  nominally  increased 
— that  is  to  say,  it  will  require  a  greater  num- 
ber of  dollars  to  purchase  a  given  amount  of 
any  commodity  than  it  required  before.  There 
to  be  a  singular  delusion  in  the  minds 


196  GOLD    OR   SILVER. 

of  some  upon  this  subject.  Many  gooa  people 
appear  to  think  that  in  some  mysterious  man- 
ner, which  no  one  has  yet  attempted  to 
explain,  the  Government,  by  legislation  or 
otherwise,  can  increase  the  prices  of  the  things 
they  have  to  sell  without  increasing  the  prices 
of  the  things  they  have  to  buy.  If  there  is  any 
financial  necromancy  by  which  this  one-sided 
increase  of  prices  can  be  accomplished,  our  free- 
coinage  friends  ought  to  explain  it  to  the  peo- 
ple. The  plain,  everyday,  common-sense  view 
of  this  subject  is  the  only  correct  one.  If  prices 
are  increased  solely  on  account  of  an  increase 
in  the  volume  of  circulation  or  on  account  of 
a  depreciation  of  the  currency,  without  any 
change  in  the  relation  between  the  supply  and 
demand  of  the  commodities  to  be  exchanged, 
the  increase  in  prices  will  necessarily  affect  all 
things  alike.  If,  therefore,  the  farmer  or 
planter  receives  a  greater  number  of  dollars  for 
his  crop  of  cotton  or  wheat,  he  will  be  compelled 
to  pay  a  correspondingly  greater  number  of 
dollars  for  his  agricultural  implements,  for  his 
groceries,  for  his  clothing,  and,  in  short,  for 
everything  he  purchases.  Consequently,  his 
profit,  if  he  has  any,  will  bear  about  the  same 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  197 

relation  to  his  expenditures  that  it  bears  now — 
that  is  to  say,  if  he  now  makes  a  profit  of  ten 
per  cent  he  will  make  a  profit  of  no  more  than 
ten  per  cent  then.  Now  it  is  out  of  the  clear 
profits  of  his  business  that  he  must  pay  his 
debts,  and  it,  therefore,  remains  to  be  seen 
how  much  benefit  he  would  ultimately  derive 
from  a  nominal  increase  in  the  prices  of  com- 
modities. He  cannot  control  the  prices  of  the 
commodities  produced  by  him  to  the  same 
extent  that  other  producers  can  control  the 
prices  of  theirs,  and  it  may  be  that  the  prices 
of  the  things  he  is  compelled  to  buy  will  be 
increased  in  much  greater  proportion  than  the 
prices  of  the  things  he  has  to  sell,  and  if  so,  he 
will  be  a  loser  instead  of  a  gainer  by  the  change. 

FALL    OF  PRICES  SINCE   1873. 

It  is  contended,  however,  that  prices  of  com- 
modities have  fallen  since  1873,  and  that  this 
reduction  of  prices  has  made  it  more  difficult  to 
pay  debts  now  than  it  was  then.  It  is  true  that 
the  prices  of  some  things  have  fallen,  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  prices  of  some  things  have 
increased.  It  is  not  true,  however,  that  our 
people  owe  any  debts  contracted  as  far  back  as 


198  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

1873,  but  it  may  be  that  some  of  our  great  cor- 
porations which  issued  bonds  before  that  date 
still  owe  them,  but  they  have  all  been  refunded 
at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  so  that  our  free-coin- 
age friends  need  not  be  disturbed  on  their  ac- 
count. The  fundamental  proposition  of  the 
advocates  of  free  coinage  is  that  all  values  are 
measured  and  prices  are  fixed  and  regulated  by 
the  amount  of  redemption  money  in  the  coun- 
try, and  that  the  amount  of  currency,  or  credit 
money,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  such  as  bank 
notes,  Government  notes,  and  other  circulating 
media,  exert  no  influence  on  the  values  of  prices 
or  commodities.  Having  dogmatically  asserted 
this  principle,  they  proceed  without  further 
argument  to  the  conclusion  that  the  legal  de- 
monetization of  silver  in  1873,  and  the  legal 
establishment  of  the  gold  standard  of  value  at 
that  time  are  the  causes  of  the  alleged  decline 
in  the  prices  of  commodities  in  this  country, 
and  then,  upon  the  theory  that  high  prices  for 
the  necessaries  of  life  would  be  a  blessing  to  the 
people,  they  appeal  to  the  consumers  of  agri- 
cultural and  manufactured  products  to  unite 
with  them  in  the  effort  to  secure  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  all  the  silver  that  the 


GOLD    OR    SILVER.  199 

owners  of  bullion  may  see  proper  to  present  at 
the  mints.  Even  if  we  should  admit  the  truth 
of  their  first  proposition,  their  conclusion  that 
the  demonetization  of  silver  reduced  prices  is 
founded  upon  the  assumption  of  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  established.  They  have  wholly 
failed  to  allege,  much  less  to  prove,  that  silver 
actually  constituted  any  part  of  the  redemption 
money  in  use  or  in  existence  in  this  country 
before  or  at  the  time  of  that  legislation.  If  it 
did  not,  then  it  is  clear  that  its  legal  demonetiza- 
tion did  not,  and  could  not,  in  fact,  reduce  the 
amount  of  such  money  in  this  country,  and 
therefore  cannot  have  reduced  prices.  It  is 
well  known  personally  to  every  gentleman  in 
this  audience  who  is  old  enough  to  know  what 
was  transpiring  in  1873  that  there  was  not  a 
dollar  of  silver  in  circulation  at  that  date. 

The  assumption  upon  which  the  argument  is 
based  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  historical 
and  official  fact.  The  only  metallic  or  redemp- 
tion money  in  use  here  at  that  time  was  gold, 
which  amounted  to  only  $135,000,000,  includ-- 
ing  what  the  Government  was  using,  whereas 
we  now  have  about  $625,000,000  in  gold  and 
$397 ,652, 873  in  fuU  legal-tender  silver,  besides 


200  GOLD    OR    SILVER. 

about  $77,000,000  in  subsidiary  silver  coin.  It, 
therefore,  prices  have  fallen  since  1873,  the 
decline  has  taken  place  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
our  full  legal-tender  metallic  money  has  been 
increased,  until  now  it  amounts  to  more  than 
seven  times  as  much  as  it  did  at  that  date,  and 
consequently  the  alleged  decline  in  prices  must 
be  attributed  to  some  other  cause  than  the 
demonetization  of  silver.  These  facts  prove 
not  only  that  the  demonetization  of  silver  did 
not  reduce  the  amount  of  redemption'  money 
in  this  country,  but  they  prove  also  that  the 
fundamental  proposition  of  the  advocates  of 
free  coinage  is  erroneous,  and  that  prices  are 
not  fixed  or  regulated  by  the  amount  of  re- 
demption money  alone,  for,  if  so,  prices  should 
have  increased  since  1873. 

A  FLIMSY  FOUNDATION. 

Substantially,  the  whole  argument  for  free 
coinage,  so  far  as  it  is  addressed  to  the  honest 
people  of  the  country,  is  based  upon  this  flimsy 
foundation,  upon  an  erroneous  principle  and  a 
false  assumption  of  facts.  That  the  amount 
of  money  in  circulation,  or  available  for  circu- 
lation, has  more  or  less  influence  upon  the 


GOLD    OR   SILVER.  20i 

prices  of  commodities  is  not  disputed  by  any- 
body, but  it  is  not  the  amount  of  metallic  or 
redemption  money  alone  that  exerts  this  influ- 
ence. If  all  other  conditions  remain  the  same, 
if  the  relations  between  supply  and  demand 
are  unchanged,  if  the  cost  of  production, 
transportation  and  financial  exchanges  are 
stable,  an  increase  or  decrease  of  the  currency 
in  circulation,  or  available  for  circulation,  will, 
to  a  certain  extent,  increase  or  decrease  prices, 
as  the  case  may  be  ;  but  by  the  terms  ' '  money  " 
and  "  currency,"  in  this  connection,  I  mean 
every  element  that  enters  into  and  is  utilized 
in  the  complicated  processes  of  buying  and 
selling  in  the  markets  for  products  and  in  the 
mercantile  exchanges,  whether  it  be  gold,  sil- 
ver, bank  notes,  United  States  notes,  checks, 
bills,  or  other  forms  of  credit,  written  or  un- 
written. Credit  or  confidence  is  an  element  of 
far  greater  importance  in  fixing  or  upholding 
prices  than  the  mere  amount  of  actual  money 
in  use,  or  available  for  use  ;  and,  in  fact,  about 
ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  entire  business  of 
the  country  is  transacted  without  the  actual 
use  of  metallic  money,  or  its  paper  representa- 
tives ;  and  as  to  metallic  money  itself,  whether 


202  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

in  gold  or  silver,  it  is  not  used  to  the  extent  of 
more  than  one  per  cent  in  our  business  trans- 
actions.    In  view  of  these  facts,  which  are  as . 
well  established  as  any  other  facts  relating  to 
our  commercial  and  financial  operations,  how 
absurd  it  is  to  contend  that  prices  are  fixed  by 
the  amount  of  that  particular  kind  of  currency 
which  does  not  constitute  more  than  one  hun 
dredth  part  of  the  whole. 

In  the  broadest  and  most  comprehensive 
sense  the  business  capacity  and  personal  in- 
tegrity of  each  individual  constitute  a  part  of 
the  effective  currency  of  the  community  in 
which  h^  lives,  because  these  characteristics 
enable  him  to  become  a  purchaser  of  the  com- 
modities it  has  to  sell,  although  at  the  time  he 
may  have  neither  money  nor  property.  Credit 
is  a  purchasing  power,  and  the  man  who  pqs- 
sesses  it  competes  in  the  market  with  the  men 
who  possess  actual  money,  and  contributes  as 
much  as  they  to  the  maintenance  of  prices. 
To  assert  that  prices  are  fixed  by  the  amount 
of  redemption  money  alone  is  equivalent  totthe 
assertion  that  if  all  the  silver  dollars,  subsidi- 
ary silver  coin,  silver  certificates,  United  States 
notes,  Treasury  notes,  national  bank  notes 


GOLD   OR   SILVER.  203 

and  every  other  form  of  credit  were  destroyed, 
leaving  nothing  but  the  gold,  prices  would 
remain  the  same  as  they  now  are — a  proposi- 
tion so  preposterous  on  its  f  °*ce  that  I  presume 
no  man  with  any  regard  for  his  reputation 
would  venture  to  make  it  except  in  a  disguised 
form. 

WOULD  HURT  WAGE   EARNERS. 

The  great  majority  of  our  people  render  ser- 
vice for  wages  in  one  form  or  another,  and 
they  are  compelled  to  purchase  in  the  markets 
everything  they  eat,  drink  or  wear,  and  in 
most  cases  they  are  compelled  to  pay  rent  for 
the  use  of  a  home  for  themselves  and  their 
families.  Like  the  farmers,  they  have  no  sil- 
ver bullion  to  carry  to  the  mints  to  be  coined 
at  the  public  expense ;  they  have  nothing  to 
dispose  of  but  their  labor  and  their  skill,  and, 
as  a  general  rule,  or  substantially  all,  the 
wages  they  receive  must  be  used  in  procuring 
commodities  for  the  personal  use  of  them- 
selves and  those  dependent  upon  them.  They 
cannot  eat,  drink  or  wear  the  money  paid  to 
them  for  their  labor,  and  it  is  valuable  to  them 
only  because  they  can  exchange  it  for  the  nee- 


204  GOLD    OR    SILVKR. 

ossaries  and  comforts  of  life,  and  there  never 
was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  when 
the  workingnjan's  dollar  would  bny  as  much 
of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  as  it 
will  buy  now,  and  there  never  was  a  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world  when  the  working  nan 
received  more  good  dollars  for  the  same  amount 
of  labor  Mian  he  receives  now  in  this  country. 
Any  policy  which  reduces  the  value  of  this 
dollar  on  the  day  it  is  earned  or  on  the  day  it 
is  expended,  by  diminishing  its  purchasing 
power  in  the  markets,  has  precisely  the  same 
effect  upon  the  holder  as  if  the  amount  paid 
for  his  labor  were  reduced.  If,  therefore,  the 
favorite  argument  of  the  advocates  of  free 
coinage — that  the  free  coinage  of  silver  at  the 
ratio  of  16  to  1  would  double  the  prices  of  all 
prod  nets — is  correct,  the  wages  of  the  laboring 
man  would  purchase  under  that  system  only 
one-half  what  they  purchase  now.  This 
would  undoubtedly  be  the  case  unless  wages 
should  also  be  doubled,  which,  according  to 
the  uniform  experience  of  the  past,  is  a  most 
improbable  thing. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  tne 
working  people  of  the  United    States   have 


<;<>u>  OK  SILVER.  205 

struggled  earnestly  and  persistency,  through 
their  labor  organizations  and  otherwise,  to 
increase  their  wages  to  a  point  which  would 
enable  thorn  to  live  decently  ;ind  comfortably 
by  expending  UK  MI-  earnings  for  commodities 
at  their  present  prices,  and  how  long  do  you 
think  they  would  have  to  struggle  in  the 
future  to  raise  their  wages  to  a  point  which 
would  enable  them  to  purchase  the  same  arti- 
cles when  their  prices  have  been  doubled  ?  No 
man  in  this  audience  will  live  to  see  such  a 
result  accomplished,  and  the  laboring  man 
who  supports  the  free  coinage  of  depreciated 
silver  dollars  must  be  content  to  live  and  sup- 
port his  family  upon  what  depreciated  silver 
dollars  will  buy.  My  position  on  this  subject 
is  that  when  the  laborer  receives  a  dollar  on 
account  of  his  wages  he  has  aright  to  be 
assured  that  it  will  purchase  as  much  in  the 
market  as  any  other  man's  dollar,  or  if  he 
desires  to  lay  it  up  for  use  in  a  time  of  need  he 
has  a  right  to  be  assured  that  it  will  be  worth 
as  much  when  he  wants  to  spend  it  as  it  was 
worth  on  the  day  he  earned  it. 
But,  gentlemen,  the  free  and  unlimited  coin- 


206  GOLD   OR   SILVER. 

age  of  silver  would  not  secure  for  the  use  of 
the  people  at  any  time  any  addition  to  their 
Btock  of  actual  money,  but  would  simply  give 
them  less  valuable  money  than  they  have  now. 
To  call  a  ten-cent  piece  a  dollar,  and  declare  it 
to  be  the  standard  of  value,  would  add  noth- 
ing whatever  to  its  purchasing  power ;  it 
would  still  require  ten  of  them  to  purchase 
what  a  real  dollar  will  purchase  now,  and 
prices  of  commodities  expressed  in  dollars 
would  appear  to  have  been  increased  ten-fold, 
when,  in  fact,  nothing  would  have  happened 
except  the  debasement  of  the  dollar.  An 
actual  increase  in  prices  resulting  from  an 
increase  in  the  volume  of  sound  money  in  cir- 
culation is  quite  a  different  thing  from  a  nom- 
inal increase  of  prices  resulting  from  the  use 
of  a  depreciated  currency,  and  no  argument 
upon  the  subject  of  prices  can  be  sound  that 
does  not  recognize  the  distinction  between 
them.  The  proposition  of  our  free-coinage 
friends  is  to  double  prices  nominally,  but  at 
the  same  time  to  have  them  paid  in  money 
intrinsically  worth  only  one-half  as  much  as  it 
was  before  the  prices  were  doubled,  and  I  con- 


GOLD    OR    SILVER. 


207 


fess  my  inability  to  see  how  this  would  help 
anybody.  ...  I  thank  you  most  sincerely 
for  the  patience  with  which  you  have  listened 
to  my  remarks,  and  will  detain  you  no  longer. 
— J.  G.  CARLISLE,  at  Covington,  Ky.,  May  20, 
1895. 


BRYAN  *  -8EIALL 


LIFE   and   POLITICAL   PRINCIPLES  of    WILLIAM  JENNINGS 

BRYAN,    AMERICA'S   GREATEST    POLITICAL    ORATOR, 

and  ARTHUR  SEWALL,  AMERICA'S  GREATEST 

SHIP  BUILDER.    By  C.  M.  Stevans. 

This  Book  is  not  a  history  of  the  past,  but  a  record  of  the 

momentous  present ! 
It  represents  the  public  questions  now  arousing  the  public 

mind  in 

The  Great  Battle  of  Standards, 

The  War  of  Platforms  and 
The  Dissolution,  Revolution  and 

Construction  of  Parties. 

It  contains  a  complete  presentation  of  the  stirring  events  in- 
cluded in  the  Period  of  Nominations,  a  detailed  report 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention and  of  the  Indorsing  Parties. 

This  Volume  is  a  comprehensive  and  voluminous  Cam- 
paign Text^Book  for  all  People.  It  includes  the 
stirring  convictions  of  the  most  eminent  speakers  and 
thinkers  of  the  Nation,  showing  their  reasons  for  urging  to 
final  issue  certain  remedies  for  the  discontentment  and 
wrongs  of  the  unprosperous  multitudes  of  American  Citi- 
zens. Illustrated* 

Price9  cloth,  handsomely  bound,  $1.00;  paper,  25  Cents. 
For  Sale  Everywhere,  or  sent,  Postpaid,  on  Receipt  of  Price. 

F.     TENNYSON    NEELY, 

PUBLISHER, 

114  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


NEELVS  POPULAR  LIBRARY.  Plpercmrs 


25  Gts.  each  Vol. 


GOLD  OR  SILVER  ?  Both  Sides 
Ably  Discussed  With  full-page  pen 
pictures  of  the  times.  M  A.  Miller. 

FREE  SILVER.  The  Democratic 
Campaign  Hand-Book.  All  the  Argu- 
ments at  a  Glance  C  M  Stevans 

SOUND  MONEV  The  Salvation  of 
Our  National  Honor.  By  leading 
Republicans  and  Democrats 

BRYAN  AND  SEWALL  and  the 
Great  Issue  of  1*96  Fully  Illus- 
trated. C.  M.  Stevans. 

McKINLEY  AND  HOBART.  Pro- 
tection, Sound  Money,  Prosperity 
Over  400  pages  Fully  Illustrated 
Byron  Andrews 

Sacrificed  Love.     Illustrated      Daudet. 

In  Strange  Company.     Boothby 

At  Market  Value.     Grant  Allen 

Rachel  Dene.     Buchanan 

The  Minor  Chord      Chappie 

The  Gates  of  Dawn      Hume 

Nance  ;  A  Kentucky  Belle     Greene 

Bitter  Fruits      M   Caro 

Are  Men  Gay  Deceivers  ?  Mrs  Frank 
Leslie. 

Nye  and  Riley's  Wit  and  Humor. 

Bill  Nye's  Sparks 

Love  Affairs  of  a  Worldly  Man.  Justice. 

Love  Letters  of  a  Worldly  Woman. 
Clifford 

The  Spider  of  Truxillo      R   H   Savage, 

The  Captain's  Romance.     Opie  Read. 

Lourdes     Emile  Zola. 

The  Adopted  Daughter.     Fawcett 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days.     Hughes. 

Kidnapped.     Stevenson. 

Micah  Clarke     Doyle. 

A  Romance  of  Two  Worlds     Corelli. 

The  Sign  of  the  Four      Doyle. 

Sport  Royal     Anthony  Hope 

Father  Stafford.    Anthony  Hope 


Treasure  Island.    Stevenson. 
Master  and  Man.    Tolstoi 
The  Deemster      Hall  Caine 
The  White  Company      Doyle. 
The  Bondman      Hall  Caine. 
Burkett's  Lock.     M   G   McClellan 
The  Child  o.  the  Ball      De  Alarcon. 
Claudea's  Island.     Ksme  Stuart. 
Lydia      Sydney  Christian 
Webster's  Pronouncing  Dictionary. 
Around  the  World  in  Eighty  Days. 
The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables 
When  a  Man's  Single.     J.  M   Barrie. 
A  Tale  of  Two  Cities      Dickens 
Beyond  the  City.      A   Conan  Doyle. 
The  Man  in  Black      Weyman 
The  Maharajah's  Guest     An  Exile 
The  Last  of  the  Van  Slacks     Van  Zile 
What  People  Said      An  Idle  Exile 
Mark  Twain,  His  Life  and  Work 
The  Major  in  Washington 
Rose  and  Ninette.     Alphonse  Daudet 
The    Minister's    Weak    Point.      David 

Maclure 

At  Love's  Extremes.    Thompson 
By  Right.  Not  Law.     R   H.  Sherard. 
Ships  That  Pass  in  the  Night 
Dodo      E    F.  Benson 
A  Holiday  in  Bed,  and  Other  Sketches. 

J   M   Barrie 

Christopher  Columbus     Wilkie. 
In  Darkest  England      General  Booth. 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin      Stowe. 
Dream  Life      Ik.  Marvel 
Cosmopolis.     Paul  Bourget. 
Reveries  of  a  Bachelor      Ik  Marvel 
Was  it  Suicide?     Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox. 
An  English  Girl  in  America      Powell 
People's  Reference  Book— 999  999  Facts. 
Martha  Washington  Cook  Book 
Health  and  Beauty      Emily  S   Bouton 
Social  Etiquette      Emily  S  Bouton. 
Looking  Forward. 


For  sale  everywhere,  or  sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  23  Cents 
per  volume,  by  the  publisher, 

F.  Tennyson  Neely,  114  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


Ayer's 
Cure- 
book. 


A  story  of  cures 
told  by  the  cured. 
Sent  free.  J.  C. 
Ayer  Co.,  I<owell, 
Mass. 


Naked  Pills  are  fit  only 
for  naked  savages.  Clothes 
mark  civilization  in  pills  or  in 
pe'ople.  A  good  pill  has  a  good 
coat.  The  good  pill  coat  pleases  the 
palate  and  is  easily  soluble  in  the 
stomach.  Pill  perfection  is  found 
in  Ayer's  Cathartic  Pills  —  sugar 
coated — the  radical  cure  for  consti- 
pation,biliousness  and  liver  troubles. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OP  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $t.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


18 


FE5U 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


